Attorney: Border neighbors feel harassed by patrol

Attorney says some residents feel harassed by border patrol. (AP Photo/file)

A Lynden man has been sentenced to 60 days in jail and 90 days of home detention for shining a spotlight at a border protection helicopter, but his attorney says the court should have considered the feelings of residents around the border who say they are being harassed.

Wayne P. Groen’s attorney, Jeffrey Lustick, says after admitting to shining the spotlight at the helicopter, Groen was convicted of incapacitating an individual during authorized operation of an aircraft.

“The helicopter was flying around in the area where Wayne Groen lives. He heard the helicopter, it woke him up. He did what people in the rural areas do: when you hear something going on on your property, when it’s making noise, you put a light on it,” said Lustick in an appearance on 97.3 KIRO FM’s Ross and Burbank Show.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Seattle says the light temporarily blinded the pilot, who was wearing night vision goggles, and a co-pilot had to direct the pilot to fly out of the area.

Lustick says Groen wasn’t aware that the flight crew was wearing the goggles.

Listen to interview: Attorney Jeffrey Lustick

U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly told 42-year-old Groen on Thursday that “what you did was stupid” and it’s fortunate the helicopter did not crash.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill Otake says Groen has a history of trouble with law enforcement.

“He has had very antagonistic interactions with law enforcement. According to our sentencing memorandum, he had seven since I believe it was January 2010.”

Lustick says Groen has no criminal convictions, and calls the discovery that border patrol was keeping record of Groen’s interactions with authorities “chilling.”

“One of the things that we found out is that the border patrol actually keeps secret files on individuals who they have interactions with,” says Lustick. “They had kept files on him on times where he voiced complaints, of times when they had interactions with him.”

Lustick admits his client has been upset with some of the activity at the border, but says he is definitely not alone.

“There are hundreds of people at the border who I have met in the process of representing Wayne Groen who’ve expressed to me opinions and cited to me examples which I was shocked by,” says Lustick. “These are folks that have long-standing histories in Whatcom County, good farming families, hard-working folks, church going folks, and they’re telling you what the border patrol is doing, and you’re kind of going ‘What? This can’t be true.’ But it is true.”

Federal prosecutors say the helicopter was helping track illegal crossers at the U.S.-Canada border.

Lustick says since 9/11, the presence of border security continues to increase. “At one point, they had anywhere from 30 to 50 agents on the border and now they have well over 300. And I hear they’re going to be getting even more.”

“Everybody understands that the border patrol has a very important security role to play,” says Lustick. “But what I think is important to consider, and the court did not allow this at the trial and would not allow this in at the sentencing, is that there is a general feeling at the border that residents have been harassed, and residents’ rights have been trampled upon.”

By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor
The Associated Press contributed to this report.