A felony charge of assault on a federal officer filed against an Ontario resident, who backed his SUV toward immigration officers near his home in October 2025 and was shot by one of them, will be dismissed if Carlos Jimenez follows through on an agreement, court records show.
Jimenez, 26, will not have to admit guilt, attorney Greg Jackson, who has filed a $35 million claim on Jimenez’s behalf against the federal government, told the Southern California News Group on Thursday, May 7.
Jimenez, who had pleaded not guilty, signed the agreement on Wednesday, May 6, Jackson said.
The charge will be dropped after Oct. 31 as long as Jimenez does not commit any crimes and follows other rules, such as maintaining employment, Jackson said. The U.S. Attorney’s Office previously offered a diversion that required Jimenez to admit to the allegations against him.
Jimenez faced 20 years in federal prison if convicted of the assault charge and a sentencing enhancement of using his vehicle as a weapon.
If dismissed, this case would represent one of the latest among scores of assault cases filed by the federal government against protesters and others during its crackdown on illegal immigration to result in dropped or reduced charges or acquittals.
“We believe that the evidence was falling apart on the prosecution side,” Jackson said, declining to elaborate until a protective order on the evidence can be removed. “That’s why they made increasingly beneficial offers to Mr. Jimenez. They knew they were going to have serious credibility issues at trial.”
Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, declined to comment Thursday, May 7. However, court documents filed by the federal government say there is a deal in place but do not explain why prosecutors agreed to it.
U.S. District Judge Kenly Kiya Kato, who is hearing the case in the Central District of California in Riverside, is not required to sign off on the deal, Jackson said.
Judge Kato cleared the path for the diversion agreement to play out on Wednesday, May 6, by postponing the scheduled trial date to Dec. 7.
She also stayed an order requiring the government to produce more evidence, including data that could show whether the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officer who fired the shot, Eusebio Ortiz, sent or received text messages following the confrontation.
The defense said in court documents that while federal officers involved in shootings typically text each other immediately afterward, the government said that Ortiz did not. Also, the defense asserted that two of the law enforcement officers who were present at the Jimenez shooting gave recorded statements to investigators the next day. Ortiz did not interview until a month later and that conversation was not recorded.
Jimenez could not be reached for comment on Thursday. A voice message was left for a relative.
“Mr. Jimenez has maintained from the beginning that he didn’t commit any crime,” Jackson said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote in the criminal complaint that officers pulled over a Honda with three occupants around 6:30 a.m. on South Vineyard Avenue near East Riverside Drive on Oct. 30, 2025, as part of an immigration-enforcement action.
While officers spoke with the driver, Jimenez approached in his Lexus SUV and engaged in “a verbal altercation” with the officers, the complaint says.
An ICE officer walked up to Jimenez “firearm in hand” and ordered Jimenez to leave, the complaint says.
Jimenez later said in court that he did not raise his voice to the officers until he saw one of them approach with a gun out. Then, Jimenez told a judge, he said something to the effect of, “Are you really going to shoot an American citizen?”
The officer then holstered his gun and pulled out pepper spray. It was then that Jimenez drove forward, turned his wheels and “rapidly accelerated” backward toward the Honda and a second officer, according to the complaint, with that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer fearing she and the Honda would be struck.
Jimenez told a judge that he had pulled alongside the officers and alerted them that they were blocking a school bus stop where children would soon arrive. Jimenez said he was making a three-point turn to drive away after he said the officer threatened him with a gun and pepper spray and told him, “Get the (expletive) out of here.”
When the ICE agent fired, it shattered Jimenez’s vehicle’s right-rear window and put a bullet in his shoulder.
Jimenez called 911 as he drove to his residence in the nearby Country Meadows mobile-home park. Relatives took him to a hospital, where FBI agents arrested him.
The bullet remains in Jimenez’s shoulder. Doctors have said attempting to remove it would risk further injury.
Nationwide, large numbers of federal cases have fallen apart after prosecutors charged protesters, government critics, immigrants and others arrested at messy demonstrations during immigration operations with assaulting or interfering with officers.
In some instances, judges brusquely threw cases out of court after prosecutors walked in with little evidence. Other times, videos contradicted law enforcement accounts.
In Minnesota, where federal agents fatally shot two protesters, three dozen people were charged with assault, but prosecutors obtained only two felony indictments, according to MPR News. In Chicago, of 92 people arrested on suspicion of assaulting or impeding officers, 74 cases resulted in no charges, the Guardian reported in March.
And in Los Angeles, federal public defenders were on a six-case winning streak in cases filed against ICE protesters, the Guardian said.
Jimenez’s attorney in the criminal case, Federal Public Defender Ayah Sarsour, did not return a message seeking comment Thursday. She has said her office’s policy is to not comment on current cases.