Criminal justice student Jessica Cooke tasered by Border Patrol in 'illegal search'

A 21-year-old college student began screaming in pain as she was tasered during what she claims was an illegal search by Border Patrol officers.

Jessica Cooke, a criminal justice student at SUNY Canton near New York's border with Canada, was pulled over by agents and detained while they brought a canine unit to search her car.

She captured the incident on her cell phone and said a male officer 'pushed me back into the side of my car and I pushed back, it was a shoving match before he threw me to the ground and had the female agent tase me in the lower back'.

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Jessica Cooke, 21, captured cell phone video of her tasering during a traffic stop near New York's border with Canada

Jessica Cooke, 21, captured cell phone video of her tasering during a traffic stop near New York's border with Canada

The criminal justice major (pictured) confronted officers about what she called an illegal search of her car, and was allegedly pushed up against her car and hit with the stun gun when she refused to move Officers allegedly kept Cooke detained for an hour before drug-sniffing dogs arrived and found nothing illegal in her car

The criminal justice major (left) confronted officers (right) about what she called an illegal search of her car, and was allegedly pushed up against her car and hit with the stun gun when she refused to move

Cooke, who has her graduation on Saturday and is in the 'pre-employment phase' for joining the Border Patrol, had said she wanted to leave with her car after not giving permission for a search.

The unidentified officers in the video say they are detaining her because she appeared nervous when she and the puppy in her car were stopped around 3.30pm Friday. 

Nothing illegal was found in the vehicle when the drug-sniffing dogs came after what Cooke estimates as 45 minutes to an hour, she told WWNYTV.

The US Supreme Court ruled last month that police officers cannot extend traffic stops while they wait for drug-sniffing dogs to arrive.

Cooke, who was driving to her hometown of Ogdensburg, became angry during the wait, though the male officer said that he would spike her tires if she tried to take the car.

He said that the young woman could leave, but that the vehicle was 'not going anywhere'. 

'All right, I’m going to tell you one more time and then I am going to move you over there, you got it?' the agent says while telling Cooke to move her closer to her car. 

'Sir, sir sir,' the young woman, who had said she did not want to be touched, is heard saying as the camera begins moving erratically. 

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Share Shadows on the ground captured in the video show the altercation between the unidentified male Border Patrol officer and Cooke

Shadows on the ground captured in the video show the altercation between the unidentified male Border Patrol officer and Cooke

Cooke had been driving home with her puppy (left) before the incident that left her bruised and sore The young woman is possibly facing charges of assaulting a federal officer

Cooke had been driving home with her puppy (left) before the incident that left her bruised and sore. The young woman is possibly facing charges of assaulting a federal officer

Cooke is heard screaming in pain as the cell phone looks at the sky and she is tasered.

'What the f*** is wrong with you?' she later says while asking the officers to take the taser out of her back.

She claims she was also pushed into the side of her car.

'They didn't know if I could handle being tased. There was no threat to them whatsoever', she said. 

The agents claim that she assaulted a federal officer.

'U.S. Customs and Border Protection is investigating a report from the U.S. Border Patrol's Swanton Sector about an altercation between an individual and two Border Patrol agents at a checkpoint on Thursday, May 7,' Border Patrol said in a statement.

The altercation followed a brief verbal exchange between the individual and the two agents regarding their intent to inspect the vehicle.'

Cooke was handcuffed and taken to a Border Patrol station in Ogdensburg, New York, for several hours before being taken home. 

She said that she was bruised and sore after the incident, but still plans on pursuing a career in law enforcement though the incident  'made her think twice'.

Alexis Karteron, a senior staff attorney with the New York Civil Liberties Union, said that the tasering was not the first time that there had been concerns about the actions of Border Patrol agents in the area.

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