Man shot by ICE in California charged with assaulting a federal officer with his car

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A man who was shot multiple times during an arrest last week by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in central California was charged Tuesday with assaulting a federal officer.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California alleges that Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez drove forward and struck a federal agent with his car and reversed back into a law enforcement vehicle after he was pulled over April 7.

But U.S. Magistrate Judge Allison Claire at a hearing in Sacramento raised questions about the case, saying: “This isn’t someone who is seeking out law enforcement to target.” She ordered Mendoza released from jail on a $50,000 bond, saying that he likely poses no threat to the public or being a flight risk. But she agreed to give a higher court judge 48 hours to affirm or overturn the ruling.

Mendoza was in a wheelchair when he appeared in court, a day after he was released from intensive care after undergoing multiple surgeries and arrested outside a hospital. A translator told him what was being said throughout the hearing, and he nodded his head as the judge read the conditions of his release.

Outside the courthouse after the hearing, about eight protesters held up signs and chanted, “Justice for Carlos” in support of Mendoza. Cars honked as they passed by.

Arguments in the case

The Department of Homeland Security said ICE agents fired defensive shots at Mendoza after he tried to drive into them. DHS said they were conducting an enforcement stop targeting Mendoza, 36, in Patterson, a city about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco.

Officials described him as a suspected gang member wanted for questioning in El Salvador related to a killing, though those allegations were not mentioned in the hearing, nor in the complaint, which stated that Mendoza, a dual citizen of El Salvador and Mexico, was targeted that morning because he is in the United States illegally.

David Harshaw, a public defender representing Mendoza, said he doesn’t have a criminal record and should be allowed to go home immediately. He doesn’t pose a danger to the public, especially due to his injuries, he said.

U.S. attorney Jason Hitt said Mendoza might try to flee if he is released, saying that he didn’t obey officers’ orders during the April 7 arrest.

Patrick Kolasinski, another lawyer for Mendoza, has said his client panicked and tried to flee when ICE agents blocked his car.

“We are prepared to fight them,” Kolasinski said of the allegations.

How the actions unfolded

Dashcam footage obtained by KCRA-TV shows three officers standing around a vehicle stopped on the side of a road. One of the officers appears to be touching the driver’s side window when the car begins to back up and turn, hitting a vehicle behind it. At least two of the agents have weapons drawn, pointing at the car. The driver then pulls forward toward where the men are standing and turns sharply, driving over the roadway median.

The video has no sound, and it’s unclear when the shots were fired or if any of them said anything.

In the complaint, officials said four agents pulled Mendoza over and he refused instructions to get out of the vehicle. Two agents were on the driver side and two were on the passenger side of his car. One agent then broke a passenger window to get him out as Mendoza put the car in drive and moved forward, hitting an agent, according to court documents. He then reversed and smashed into an ICE vehicle before accelerating as one agent jumped out of the way, the complaint states.

Kolasinski has said agents fired on Mendoza while the car was stopped and he drove away to flee the gunfire.

“He is doing everything he can to not run them over,” the attorney said of his client’s reaction during the stop.

Kolasinski also disputes DHS claims that there was a warrant out for his client’s arrest. He said Mendoza, who is engaged to a U.S. citizen, is a laborer and father of a 2-year-old girl. He said he has been stopped for minor traffic infractions but has no criminal record in the U.S. and is not the subject of an arrest warrant in El Salvador, where he was acquitted of murder.

Neither DHS nor ICE have responded to Associated Press requests for comment on the lawyer’s claims.

The event was among a string of shootings during the Trump administration’s aggressive push to detain and deport immigrants in the country illegally, about which questions have been raised with federal immigration officials.

Mendoza underwent three surgeries for multiple gunshot wounds, his attorney said. Mendoza has difficulty speaking because he was shot in the jaw, and he insists he was never a gang member, Kolasinski said.

According to an Oct. 25, 2019, court document from a judge in El Salvador, Mendoza was acquitted after being accused of murder and ordered immediately released. The document contains no mention of Mendoza belonging to a gang or being accused of engaging in gang activity.