County Attorney Decides Against Prosecuting Haab

According to Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas' interpretation of the law, "There were two felonies committed. The human smuggling felony was committed by the coyote and the six individuals who ran up to the suburban and jumped inside and resisted the entreaties of Mr. Haab in doing so."

"They were engaged in the conspiracy to conduct the human smuggling. So that was the felony that they committed."

It was learned after Sgt. Haab's arrest that one of the aliens was a smuggler.

The county attorney believes Haab was within the narrow scope of Arizona law in making the citizens arrest.

Sheriff Arpaio told KTAR that he "backs up what his deputy did" in the arrest, but will not second guess or criticize the decision of the county attorney.

Sgt. Haab told authorities that he drew a pistol to stop a group of seven men from rushing him at an Interstate 8 rest stop in southwestern Arizona. The men later were determined to be illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Arpaio says he wants the public to know that "you do not take the law into your own hands" if you think someone has committed a crime. "I don't know if a citizen can make an arrest on a federal violation."

"We have to very cautious about pointing guns at people because of the color of their skin."

Arpaio said Haab also gave differing accounts about the incident first to dispatchers and later to investigators. Haab only claimed he was acting in self-defense in an interview with a sheriff's investigator, Arpaio said.

The investigator wrote that when he pointed out an inconsistency during an interview, Haab invoked his right to a lawyer.

"It just wasn't right that he was arrested on felony charges," says his father David Habb from his home in Indiana.

David Haab said he had hoped for the dismisal of charges, but he didn't expect the speed in which the decision was made. "I gotta hand it to the district attorney there, Andrew Thomas, credits Thomas for the courageous decision he's made. You know, he's made the right decision. He's probably going to take a little heat for it."

David says his son, Patrick, is happy and relieved. "He's sworn to protect us. He's in the military. He saw something that wasn't right and he took action. He put himself in jeopardy."

Sgt. Haab was released from jail a week ago on $10,000 cash bond.

Sgt. Haab is from New Paris, Ind., and is assigned to the Army's 415th Civil Affairs Battalion from Kalamazoo, Mich. He currently lives in Mesa.

(Brian Barks, Heidi Foglesong, Ted Siomons, Gayle Bass and Dan Guerin contributed to this article.)