A 26-year-old Marine reservist is free after spending seven months in Mexico jails over what he says was a wrong turn. Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, who served two tours in Afghanistan, was arrested in March because he crossed the border into Tijuana with three loaded guns in his pickup, reports ABC News. Tahmooressi says he made a wrong turn on a highway in California and never intended to go to Mexico, but authorities there cracking down on gun-running to cartels were unsympathetic. His family and a slew of high-ranking US politicians have lobbied since for his release, and a Mexican judge agreed to free him so he could be treated for his war-related PTSD.
"It is with an overwhelming and humbling feeling of relief that we confirm that Andrew was released today after spending 214 days in Mexican Jail," said his family in a statement. Tahmooressi immediately boarded a plane back to the US. His lawyer had said Tahmooressi kept loaded weapons with him because they made him feel safer after his stint overseas. And his mother said her son was more traumatized by his time in jail than by the war. The AP notes that while PTSD is becoming a common subject in US courts, this is one of the first times it has been cited in a ruling in Mexico. (More Mexico stories.)
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