November 14-2014
Andrew Tahmooressi says his 214-day imprisonment in Mexico included beatings, chains and being stripped naked for hours at a time.
In an interview last Thursday with Fox News, he said, “I was vulnerable, feeling very vulnerable.”
Of his initial days inside the La Mesa prison in Tijuana, he said, “I know there are some messed up people in this world, and prison’s a good place to find them.”
Tahmooressi, a 26-year-old veteran of two tours in Afghanistan, was arrested March 31 for trying to cross the border with three registered guns in his truck.
In jail, he said he was beaten by guards. “I was very afraid. I felt like it would be the last night of my life right there, that these guys were going to kill me,” he said. “I thought running away was my only hope to get away from a situation like that.” He escaped from his cell.
Although he said he got “pretty far,” he was unable to get through a gate, and was subsequently caught, beaten and chained by guards. At one point, he was stripped naked and strapped to a bed from both wrists and both ankles for nearly nine hours.
Later, Tahmooressi tried to kill himself by smashing a light bulb and stabbing himself in the neck, though guards discovered him and brought him to a prison hospital in time to save his life.
A Mexican judge ordered Tahmooressi freed and he has now returned to his family in Florida.
Tahmooressi told Fox he’s not sure he’ll keep his guns, and now wants to find a job and “do productive things.”
But he says he’s grateful for the support he had through the ordeal from Americans across the country who were outraged at his jailing.
“I’m going to be okay, everyone,” he said. “I’ll be just fine, I promise you.”