ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV

Tucson Samaritans Gail Kocourek, 74, and Evan Spry, 22, are alleging intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault and false arrest/false imprisonment, according to two notices of claim filed against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, HSI’s parent agency, on Friday.

The claims are precursors to filing a lawsuit against the U.S. government, which will happen if the parties can’t come to a settlement agreement, said Tucson attorney Paul Gattone, who is representing the migrant-aid volunteers.

They’re each seeking $543,750, including attorneys’ fees, for pain and suffering following the March 12 incident along the U.S.-Mexico border, about 70 miles southwest of Tucson.

“This was outrageous conduct on the part of these federal agents,� Gattone said in a Friday interview. “It is disturbing that this seems to be a developing trend among federal agents and federal officials ... to be threatening excessive force against people who have done nothing against the law.�

An ICE spokeswoman said Friday the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

On March 12, Kocourek, Spry and one other volunteer were traveling along the border road, east of the border town of Sásabe, Ariz., a trip that Kocourek makes about three times per week. All were unarmed, the claim said.

The border-wall road here is understood to be a public-access road that’s routinely used by migrant-aid volunteers and ranchers in the area, the claim said. During these regular border trips, Kocourek drives a four-wheel-drive truck marked “Samaritans� with a Red Cross-style logo on the side.

While driving toward the end of the border wall, south of Ruby, Ariz., the Tucson Samaritans saw three men, one of them holding an assault-style rifle, standing next to an unmarked sports-utility vehicle. None wore a uniform.

At the time, Kocourek and her fellow volunteers believed the armed men to be among the vigilantes who have been harassing migrants and humanitarian workers along the border, the claim said. The vigilantes are often affiliated with right-wing militias and the Samaritans had recently received a report that vigilantes had vandalized a humanitarian water station in the area.

Kocourek, who was driving, drove past the men before later turning around and heading west on the border wall road, back toward Sásabe and Highway 286.

But the unmarked SUV was now positioned lengthwise across the road, in an apparent attempt to block the Samaritans’ truck. Several men exited the SUV as Kocourek’s truck approached and aimed their weapons at the Samaritans, according to a brief video recording shared with the ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV.

“Believing her life to be in danger,� the claim said, Kocourek drove around the unmarked SUV, which began pursuing the Samaritans’ truck.

“There were no emergency lights, sirens, or anything to indicate the pursuing SUV was law enforcement,� the claim said. “The pursuit continued for several minutes at a high rate of speed along the dirt road until (Kocourek) spotted a marked Border Patrol vehicle perched on the side of the road. (Kocourek) stopped and the passengers hastily told the agent that armed men were in pursuit.�

The Border Patrol agent spoke into his radio, and only then did Kocourek and Spry learn that the armed men were federal agents. Later, they learned the agents were with Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative arm of ICE.

When the agents caught up, they aimed their guns at the Samaritans again, and handcuffed and detained them, which the tort claim alleges exceeded federal agents’ authority.

As federal agents are not “peace officers� under Arizona law, they generally can’t make arrests for violations of state law and had no reason to believe the Samaritans violated federal law, the tort claims said.

“Despite this, they (the HSI agents) determined it necessary to block the road in the most threatening manner imaginable,� according to the claim.

Well-known at the border

Kocourek’s claim notes that she is among the most well-recognized migrant-aid volunteers on the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, which she visits usually three times a week to bring water, food and medical supplies to those who might be in need of assistance. During busy times in this area of the border, the Samaritans often waited hours with asylum seekers who wanted to surrender to Border Patrol, and reported migrants’ presence to agents in the area.

Kocourek’s “presence in these unforgiving lands has led to a friendly, respectful rapport with Border Patrol agents,� the claim said. “It is not uncommon for a Border Patrol agent, upon learning that he will soon be transferred or promoted, to share their news with Claimant (Kocourek) as one would to a coworker.�

Kocourek has told the Star that she’s intentionally tried to forge a warm rapport with border agents whom she regularly encounters during her volunteer work, making sure to greet them and offer information about the status of migrants and asylum seekers in remote areas of the borderlands.

That collaboration has been particularly needed along the steep border-wall road east of Sásabe, where border agents’ vehicles often struggled to reach hundreds of asylum seekers who were seeking to surrender to Border Patrol in late 2023 and early 2024, she’s told the Star.

Kocourek and other Samaritans say border agents often welcomed the information Samaritans shared with them about the number, and health status, of arriving asylum seekers in the remote area.

The amount of damages sought is the average of the amount awarded in four comparable cases cited in the tort claims, said attorney Billy Peard, who is also representing Kocourek and Spry.

“This amount is also reasonable in light of comparable settlement amounts by other law enforcement agencies within the Ninth Circuit where law enforcement officers pointed their firearms at civilians without provocation or justification,� according to the claim.

That includes a 2020 case in which the City of Phoenix agreed to pay $475,000 during settlement discussions, after one of its officers approached a family sitting in their parked car with his gun drawn.

Peard said it’s still not clear why agents affiliated with ICE, which typically operates in the interior of the country, were on the border-wall road that day in an area typically patrolled by Border Patrol. He said the agents’ actions that day were unjustified and needlessly threatening.

“Our clients were traveling in a lawful manner, in a lawful place,� Peard said. “Their purpose was widely understood in the region by federal authorities. But a federal agency, that typically is not seen in this region, for some unknown reason chose to operate in plainclothes, in unmarked vehicles and for some unknown reason decided to instigate (an interaction with) a clearly marked humanitarian vehicle, using incredibly alarming tactics that had only one interpretation — threatening to kill.�