Lawyers for US citizen shot by ICE agent say shooting was not self-defense
Lawyers representing a U.S. citizen who was shot by an immigration agent last week in Ontario, California, are pushing back on claims from the government that the officer was acting in self-defense.
Carlos Jimenez, a U.S. citizen, was shot in the shoulder as he drove away from federal agents after warning them that schoolchildren would be gathering where the agents were located, his lawyers claim.
Jimenez, a father of three who lives in a mobile home park, was heading to his job at a food bank when he saw the agents' cars blocking traffic, his attorney Cynthia Santiago told ABC News.
"He goes out to say, excuse me ... can you wrap this up? There are kids that are coming out. And he was met with a lot of aggression," Santiago said.
The lawyer said that after an agent pulled out pepper spray, Jimenez began to maneuver his vehicle "to get around," and was shot in his back shoulder, through the back passenger window.
According to Santiago, her client called 911 and went to the hospital, where he was later arrested and detained. He was charged with assault on a federal officer on Friday and released on bond.
According to the complaint filed by federal prosecutors, after Jimenez "engaged in a verbal altercation with the officers," he pulled forward, turning his wheels, and then rapidly accelerated backward, causing one of the officers at the scene "to fear" Jimenez would hit him and another car.
"The ICE officer, fearing for his life, fired defensive shots at the vehicle," said Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. "The subject fled the scene and abandoned his vehicle."
Jimenez's attorneys, however, say that their client could have died and that the shooting should be investigated.
"The escalation of violence in the community, the improper training ... they're not adequately trained," Santiago said of the influx of immigration agents being deployed as part of the Trump administration's aggressive immigration crackdown. "And their use of our communities as their training grounds is very unsafe for those with or without status."
Jimenez's attorneys said they first plan to file a legal claim and later file a lawsuit seeking monetary damages for medical bills, lost wages, and emotional trauma.
"It impacted [Jimenez's] entire family," said Santiago, who called the incident "a completely horrendous situation where all he was doing was trying to protect the kids that were going to come out to that bus stop."
