The Ontario man who was shot after he allegedly backed his car toward a federal officer helping make an immigration-enforcement stop pleaded not guilty to assault on a federal officer on Tuesday, Nov. 25, in U.S. District Court in Riverside.
Carlos Jimenez, 25, faces 20 years in prison if convicted of the federal charge, which includes a sentencing enhancement of using a deadly weapon — his SUV.
Asked for his plea, Jimenez told U.S. District Judge Sheri Pym, “Not guilty, your honor.”
Pym set a trial date of Jan. 12.
During the approximate 3-minute hearing attended by several family members, Jimenez, his right arm in a black sling, also told Pym that he understood his rights and that he had read the indictment.
His federal public defender, Ayah Sarsour, told the judge that the government had not fulfilled requests to turn over evidence, including the identities of three witnesses. Those witnesses could be the three people who were in a Honda Accord that officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection had pulled over on Vineyard Avenue about 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 30.
Pym ordered Assistant U.S. Attorney Courtney Williams to have her office comply with the requests.
Jimenez declined to comment afterward to reporters: “I’m sorry.” Sarsour also declined to comment, citing agency policy.
The case appears to center on Jimenez’s intentions.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote in a criminal complaint that officers pulled over the Honda as part of what prosecutors say was 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. 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 document, with that Border Protection officer fearing she and the Honda would be struck.
That’s when the ICE agent fired, shattering the vehicle’s right-rear window and putting a bullet in Jimenez’s shoulder.
“Carlos Jimenez intentionally and forcibly assaulted, resisted, impeded, intimidated, and interfered with … an employee of United States Customs and Border Protection,” the indictment says, “and in doing so, used a deadly and dangerous weapon, namely, a car.”
Greg Jackson, the attorney representing Jimenez in a possible civil action against the government, said Jimenez had pulled alongside the officers and alerted them that they were blocking a school bus stop where children would soon arrive. Jimenez, according to the attorney, said he was making a three-point turn to drive away after he said one of the officers threatened him with a gun and pepper spray and told him, “Get the … out of here.”
That’s when the ICE agent fired, Jackson said. Jimenez called 911 as he drove to his nearby home. 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.
Homeland Security Investigations spokespeople have not directly responded to questions about why, if officers believed Jimenez had committed a crime and was dangerous, they did not pursue him as he drove away; and why, as required by the agency’s use-of-force policy, they did not try to follow him and provide medical aid.