An Ontario man who was shot by an immigration officer was charged on Friday with assault on a federal officer.
Also, a sworn statement filed in federal court in Riverside along with the criminal complaint revealed some new details about the interaction that led to the shooting on Thursday, Oct. 30. That day, federal officers said the driver, Carlos Jimenez, had backed up his SUV at them before the officer shot him.
The statement filed on Friday said Jimenez had first argued with officers before ultimately backing up his car.
According to the affidavit, an “enforcement team” made up of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, an Enforcement and Removal Operations Deportation officer and two U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations officers was conducting a “planned immigration enforcement operation” in Ontario on Thursday. The team had stopped a Honda Accord going southbound on Vineyard Avenue.
An officer was speaking to the three occupants of the Honda on the car’s driver’s side when Jimenez pulled up in his Lexus RX350, also on the driver’s side where the officer was, the complaint states.
That’s when Jimenez “engaged in a verbal altercation with the officers at the vehicle stop,” and another officer approached with his firearm and told Jimenez to leave, before holstering his firearm and taking out his pepper spray, according to the complaint.
Jimenez initially pulled his car forward and left, away from the Honda and officers, but then stopped and turned the car’s wheels and “rapidly” accelerated back towards the officers and the stopped Honda, court papers say. The officer that had been talking to the Honda’s occupants said he feared that Jimenez’s car would hit him and the Honda.
As Jimenez accelerated backwards, an officer fired a shot that hit Jimenez in the shoulder, the complaint states.
“Then, Jimenez drove away from the scene and later checked himself into a hospital. After Jimenez was medically cleared and released from the hospital, Jimenez was taken into HSI custody,” the complaint says, referring to Homeland Security investigators.
Family members said Thursday that Jimenez drove himself to his nearby home and was taken to a hospital.
It is unclear what the outcome of the immigration enforcement activity conducted on the occupants of the Honda Civic was.
Jimenez made an initial court appearance on Friday evening. A federal magistrate judge ordered him released on $10,000 bond with a GPS location monitor to be installed immediately. No plea was taken.
His arraignment is scheduled for November 25 at 10 a.m. in U.S. District Court in Riverside.
At Jimenez’s court appearance, a few protesters were gathered outside to support him and protest how the federal government is handling the mass deportations of illegal immigrants.
“Melt ICE Dump Trump,” one sign said. A long banner demanded, “ICE out of the Inland Empire.”
One of the protesters was 34-year-old Ana Wilson of Riverside. Her message is “ICE out of the Inland Empire. Fascists out of the U.S.,” she said. “They are breaking the law in the name of law enforcement.”