The city of Whitefish is facing a lawsuit for the role a police officer played in the federal detainment of a Venezuelan man earlier this year.

Officer Michael Hingiss contacted United States Customs and Border Patrol agents while conducting a routine traffic stop because the driver, Beker Rengifo del Castillo, only spoke Spanish, according to the complaint filed Monday in federal court in Missoula. The suit claims video and audio recordings of the stop show Hingiss telling Border Patrol dispatch, “Just out with a male that only speaks Spanish, wondering if you want to check him."

At the traffic stop’s conclusion, Rengifo del Castillo was detained by Whitefish-based Border Patrol agents and transferred to the Northwest Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center in Tacoma, Wash

See Full Page