- Crime Writers On...Esoteric

CWO Episode Description:

In 2010, when Anastasio Hernández-Rojas died after his arrest at a checkpoint, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it was from a medical emergency. Even though video surfaced showing 20 officers beating and tasing him, none of the men were held accountable for his death. An investigative journalist and a former CBP agent noted a passing reference to the Critical Incident Team, an organization neither had heard of. They learn this secretive unit isn’t tasked with investigating lethal force incidents - their purpose is to prevent or short-circuit them.

“Critical Incident: Death at the Border” from HBO Documentary Films looks into a shadow unit buried within U.S. Customs and Border Protection working to shield officers from lethal force investigations. It follows a reporter’s quest to uncover the Critical Incident Team and learn its true purpose, and tells the story of the family’s fight to get some measure of justice for Hernández-Rojas.