MALONE -- Federal agents who shot a suspected drug smuggler who allegedly tried to run them over with an ATV have been cleared of any charges by a Franklin County grand jury.

Timothy J. Fleury, 25, of 52 Bird Road, Constable was shot in the lower right torso May 5 as he fled on an all-terrain vehicle as the two U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Burke substation approached him on a ATV trail off Route 122 in the Town of Constable.

District Attorney Derek Champagne called a news conference Thursday to reveal the grand-jury results and provide details for the first time about the agents' actions during a 20-mile chase that ended in the shooting a mile deep in the woods.

He said there is much speculation circulating in the community, and he wanted the public to know the restraint and professionalism that U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agents Dennis Rascoe and Daniel Taylor displayed during the confrontation, which lasted between two and four seconds.

SENSOR ALARM

Taylor and Rascoe were responding to the activation of a sensor when they went to the Jamison Border crossing near Trout River about 10:10 p.m. and tried to stop two ATVs.

One vehicle, a 700cc model ATV weighing more than 600 pounds, was towing a large trailer loaded with bulging duffel bags designed to carry hockey equipment, Champagne said.

The drivers took off into the woods, pursued by the agents, who figured from the duffel bags that this was an organized smuggling operation.

Taylor and Rascoe went as far as into the underbrush as their vehicles could, then continued the pursuit on foot. They told the grand jury they were able to hear the ATV and trailer stopping at different points in the woods.

FACEOFF

About 30 minutes into the chase, the agents saw Fleury come out of the woods onto an ATV trail near a canopy. He stopped between 15 and 30 feet away as they stood at a bend in the trail with a tree on each side of them.

Champagne said the trail was only as wide as an ATV, so there was nowhere for the vehicle or the men to go.

As the agents walked toward the ATV, thinking Fleury was going to comply with their order to get off the machine, he reportedly gunned the engine, made a sharp left turn and drove at the two men.

"One agent said (that) as he dove out of the way that he could feel the exhaust on his leg," said Tom Carr, the union attorney representing Taylor and Rascoe. "They could've been run over. That is a very heavy vehicle, and it could've done some damage."

SHOTS FIRED