The family of a Mexican teenager who died after being told to drink from a bottle of liquid meth has been awarded $1 million in damages.

Cruz Marcelino Velazquez Acevedo, 16, arrived from Tijuana at the US border in November 2013, shaking with nerves and speaking quickly. He had no criminal record and is believed to have been paid around $150 to take the drug across the border.

When confronted by border police, he said the liquid was apple juice. They asked him to drink it to prove it was not harmful – and two hours later, screaming and convulsing, he died.

Eugene Iredale, lawyer for the Velazquez family, said the border officers acted recklessly.

“I don’t think they deliberately set out to kill the boy,” he said.

“But they did, in telling him to drink it in order to prove to themselves — or have him prove to them — that it was in fact what he said it was - as opposed to a drug, which is what they suspected.

“They have many test kits - they are readily available” at the port, said Mr Iredale, but those were not used.