Originally Posted: October 6, 2008

We are in Az and one of the kids (not under my supervision) steels a car and drives off. It is six miles to the nearest town down a completely straight road.. The kid is all of 5 feet tall and can barely see over the steering wheel. His legs are however long enough as he has found the accelerator and has pinned it to the floor. We can see he has his seat belt on, and diligently uses his turn signal on the one corner he must negotiate to leave the camp. I am called over and we get into a car and follow.

Follow not chase.  This is made very clear as we drive out of camp.

Forbidden to get into a high speed chase so we drive after him, at a at a moderate distance and at a none high speed. We are doing 50 and he is pulling away, quickly. We are surprised he can drive a stick so well. Then there is a puff of smoke, a brief pause then the loud bang reaches us. It appears he can’t drive a stick. The engine is dead. He coasts to a stand still. We dive out of the car. He starts to run. I am the only one with cell service so I call the police. They are coming. G my co-worker shows incredible speed for a big guy and catches the kid. He is forced to restrain him.

They are in the middle of the road. This is bad, but the kid had some sort of weapon and it was the only option. I stop traffic to prevent a tragedy. Other staff have finally arrived. A Border Patrol man turns up. “Help him, help him” a staff calls to the Officer. The Border Patrol draws his gun. I see this from a distance. Something is wrong. I Scream over the noise of the slightly hysterical but unhelp female staff to the Patroller. “Help G, help the staff on the ground. Help him with the kid”

The Border Patrol man turns with a look of horror on his face. He puts the gun away, walks over and grabs and cuffs the kid. “Sorry man, he says” he helps G up. “I thought this was some father son domestic.”

G has no idea how close he was to being shot.
Incidentally G is black, I am sure this had nothing to do with the BP willingness to shoot.