The chaotic apprehension of an undocumented man in St. Paul, Minnesota, ended violently Sunday after the man allegedly struck two federal officers with his automobile throughout a cease – inflicting one officer to fire “defensive shots” – earlier than the man was in the end apprehended, based on the Department of Homeland Security.
The arrest comes because the Trump administration continues its immigration enforcement efforts throughout the Twin Cities, which have stoked controversy in current weeks over Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics and concerns over racial profiling.
But Sunday’s pursuit factors to a troubling trend that’s emerged throughout the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts, which left some officers warning concerning the potential for escalation and violence.
It started when agents tried to detain a man DHS later recognized as Juan Carlos Rodrigues Romero, an undocumented Cuban immigrant, throughout a cease.
“Romero was noncompliant and refused to roll down his window, causing officers to warn that they would have to break the window if he continued to not comply with lawful orders,” the company stated in a press release posted online.
That’s when Romero drove off, DHS stated, and a chaotic chase started.
As Romero fled the scene, he allegedly struck one of many ICE officers with his automobile. He then drove into a close-by parking zone and hit two parked vehicles, based on DHS.
As officers commanded Romero to exit the automobile, he allegedly “began ramming his car into an ICE vehicle and struck another ICE officer,” DHS stated in a press release.
“The officer who was struck by Romero’s car defensively fired two rounds from his service weapon, causing Romero to drive off again,” the company stated. “No one was struck by any of the defensive shots fired.”
Romero, nonetheless, continued to attempt to elude apprehension, based on the company. He allegedly rammed one other ICE automobile earlier than making an attempt to flee into his condominium on foot.
The company stated ICE officers introduced Romero to the bottom as he “continued to violently resist arrest and bit one of the officers.”
The officers concerned sustained non-life-threatening accidents throughout the pursuit and had been taken to a close-by hospital for analysis, based on DHS.
Romero was additionally evaluated at a hospital and is presently in ICE custody pending additional expenses, the company stated.
It was not instantly clear if Romero had obtained authorized illustration.
NCS has reached out to ICE for additional touch upon the arrest.
In a statement posted on social media, Saint Paul Police stated they arrived on the scene after the incident and realized the federal agent had been struck and fired his service weapon.
“No Saint Paul police officers were involved in the arrest or use of force,” the division stated.
Police use of power has grow to be a lightning rod in Minnesota following the homicide of George Floyd. In the aftermath, native police have spent years attempting to reform division protocols throughout police encounters.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara alluded to how the federal police presence has at instances complicated those efforts throughout a information convention Tuesday.
“We have been training our officers for the last five years very, very intensely on de-escalation,” O’Hara stated. “But unfortunately, that is not, that is often not what we are seeing from other agencies in the city.”
Dramatic – and sometimes violent – visitors stops have grow to be something of a fixture throughout the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown.
Traffic stops are sometimes thought of among the many most harmful police interactions due to their potential for escalation and damage.
In October, Emily Covington, ICE Assistant Director of Public Affairs, told NCS “aggressors are now purposefully running into officers, boxing in law enforcement vehicles, running ICE law enforcement off the roads, and ramming their cars into law enforcement vehicles.”
But the company has additionally confronted criticism over the techniques it makes use of throughout apprehensions, together with controversial “precision immobilization technique” or “PIT” maneuvers, which forces a automobile to spin out and cease.
The tactic is taken into account a use of lethal power, consultants have advised NCS.
In September, ICE officers fatally shot a man throughout a visitors cease in a Chicago suburb. The following month, a automobile crash involving federal agents drew widespread backlash and protests in town after video of the incident went viral.
And final month, the high-profile case towards Marimar Martinez – a Chicago lady accused of ramming a Customs and Border Protection agent with her automobile earlier than agents repeatedly shot her – ended dramatically when a federal decide dismissed the fees towards her.
Throughout the trial, US District Judge Georgia Alexakis repeatedly raised considerations about how the federal government dealt with the investigation and in the end stated discrepancies in the federal government’s case made her “question the narrative being put forward.”
During the trial, Martinez’s protection legal professional had accused the government of probably attempting to destroy proof after Charles Exum, the agent concerned in the case, was allowed to drive his broken automobile 1,000 miles to his house state of Maine.
The protection additionally produced text messages at trial in which Exum appeared to brag about his marksmanship after taking pictures Martinez.
After the ruling, Martinez told NCS though she is going to carry the bodily scars of the taking pictures, she refuses to be a sufferer.
“I’m actually a survivor from all of this injustice that’s going on,” she stated.
NCS’s Niquel Terry Ellis, Dalia Faheid, Eric Levenson and Omar Jimenez contributed to this report.