Ex-CBP officer sentenced for unreasonable force at San Ysidro POE

A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer who threw a woman into the door of a primary inspection booth at the San Ysidro Port of Entry was sentenced today to four months in prison.

Andre Maurice Chevalier pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor for pulling the woman out of a vehicle on April 23, 2022, and shoving her into the booth -- where she struck her face against the corner of the booth's open door -- then later pushing her against the side of her car.

Prosecutors said the incident caused "significant injuries to her face" and described her in court documents as around 5 feet tall and weighing around 120 pounds, while Chevalier was described as 6 feet tall and weighing around 200 pounds.

Along with his plea last year to a count of deprivation of rights under color of law, Chevalier resigned from CBP and agreed not to seek employment with any federal law enforcement agency.   

According to the prosecution's sentencing documents, Chevalier was previously employed at two other Southern California law enforcement agencies and was fired from one of those agencies shortly after two use-of-force incidents.

Prosecutors said Chevalier was a public safety officer with the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians, but was fired after the two incidents, which took place in May of 2011.  

"Twenty-Nine Palms characterized his separation as an `involuntary resignation' and noted his `extremely poor customer service/poor judgment,''' according to the prosecution's sentencing memo.   

Prior to his employment with Twenty-Nine Palms, Chevalier was with the Indio Police Department in eastern Riverside County from 2003 to 2007. Prosecutors said his employment records with IPD have been purged, but the department confirmed that Chevalier was "released on probation."  

Chevalier's defense attorney, Richard L. Pinckard, said in his sentencing memorandum that the victim "was intentionally and provocatively noncompliant from the moment she entered the United States."  

Court documents state the woman -- identified in court documents as Y.F. -- had traveled with her brother to Tijuana to visit their mother, and was returning to the United States.

At the port of entry, Y.F. was asked to show her immigration documents to CBP, which she had not previously been required to do. Prosecutors wrote that this was a new policy enacted because of an influx of asylum seekers at the time.

Y.F. initially refused to show her documents, but after providing them, she refused to drive to secondary inspection without getting her documents back.

Chevalier called for other officers who surrounded Y.F.'s car, but she would not get out of her vehicle, according to prosecutors.   

When she eventually agreed to head to secondary inspection, officers were able to open the car's doors and Chevalier grabbed her hand, to which Y.F. said, "Don't touch me," prosecutors wrote.

At that point, Chevalier "yanked Y.F." out of the vehicle and into the booth, "driving her face into the corner of the open door of the booth," according to prosecutors.

Pinckard argued in his sentencing memo that Chevalier "was simply trying to do his job'' and was not hostile or abusive towards Y.F. during the encounter.

Pinckard wrote that when officers were able to get Y.F.'s vehicle's doors open, she "refused multiple commands to exit" and grabbed her steering wheel in an effort to prevent Chevalier from removing her from the car.