By NBC News wire services
PHOENIX, Ariz. – A deputy from a controversial Arizona sheriff’s office countered accusations of racial profiling on Thursday, telling a court that he had risked his life to rescue a Latino undocumented immigrant from armed kidnappers.
Carlos Rangel told a civil trial alleging Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his office engage in racially profiling Latinos that, at the behest of federal immigration police, he went undercover to play the role of the immigrant’s relative to meet kidnappers, one of whom pointed a gun at him.
The kidnappers were arrested and the immigrant was released.
Asked by defense lawyer Tom Liddy if he was an “anti-Hispanic bigot,” Rangel answered: “No. I am not.”
