EPISD names Off-Duty CBP Ofcr who Allegedly Forced Bus Off Road, Confronted Students

Officials with El Paso ISD issued a statement Tuesday afternoon naming the off-duty CBP Officer who allegedly forced a school bus full of basketball players off the road last Thursday night.

EPISD officials say off-duty Customs and Border Protection officer 34-year-old Miguel A. Delgado Jr. was cited Tuesday for Disruption of Transportation. Delgado allegedly forced the bus off the roadway using his personal truck on February 2nd.

After winning an away game, Henderson Middle School basketball players were having a happy ride back to school. But that joy quickly turned to terror when an unmarked truck forced the school bus to pull over on the side of the road Thursday night.

“I was scared for my teammates. What would happen to them?” seventh-grader Matthew Chacon said Friday.

His mother, Sylvia Chacon, was driving behind the bus when she says she saw the truck trying to force the bus to pull over as it approached the Trowbridge Drive exit on U.S. 54.

“I was furious. I was upset,” Sylvia Chacon said.

Eventually, the school bus and the truck pulled over on the side of the freeway. Sylvia Chacon , who also stopped behind the bus, said a man who was wearing street clothes stepped out of the truck, flashed an official-looking badge at the bus driver and boarded the bus.

“We’re all surprised, and then he’s all like, ‘Who threw (expletive) at my car?'” said Matthew, who did not believe anyone was throwing anything out the school bus leading up to the confrontation.

Sylvia Chacon said she began fearing for the children on board. She got out of her own car and got the man to leave after threatening to call authorities.

“You don’t know what could have happened. If he was having a bad day … what could he have done to the children?” Chacon said.

As it turns out, the man is an officer with Customs and Border Protection, according to El Paso Independent School District officials.

CBP said it is conducting an internal investigation on the matter and did not name the officer involved.

“I want his badge taken from him and I want him to be put in jail,” Sylvia Chacon said.

She was also upset because she believes the coaches could have done more to protect the children. “Instead of the coaches backing up the children, they also started yelling at the children. I don’t want to see them coach again”

In a statement to KVIA, district officials said: “The District has been actively investigating every aspect of this incident in order to determine the appropriate course of action. Customs and Border Protection Internal Affairs also have been involved in the investigation. District and campus officials continue to meet with parents to address their concerns.”

According to the district, Disruption of Transportation occurs when a person “intentionally disrupts, prevents, or interferes with the lawful transportation of children to or from school or an activity sponsored by a school on a vehicle owned or operated by a county or independent school district.”

EPISD officials add that the Offense is a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not to exceed $500.