Assaulting border agent brings 5-year prison term

By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 02/07/2008 12:00:00 AM MST

A man convicted of trying to run over a Border Patrol agent in an El Paso parking lot last year was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison Wednesday in federal court in El Paso.

Gerardo Felipe Ortiz, 28, was convicted of one count of assault of a federal officer and faced up to 20 years in federal prison.

Wednesday, he told U.S. District Judge David Briones, "I had no intention of assaulting a man. Never."

His lawyer, Sib Abraham, argued that Ortiz did not intend to hit the agent with his truck, but rather to flee.

Officials with the U.S. attorney's office said that on April 17, 2007, two Border Patrol agents witnessed an exchange of cash between Ortiz and another man at the Alamo Auto Supply parking lot at 5923 Gateway West.

The agents approached Ortiz after he got into his truck and repeatedly told Ortiz to get out of it. Instead, Ortiz fled and Figueroa moved to avoid being hit by Ortiz's truck, officials said. Figueroa fired one round and hit Ortiz.