Screenshot courtesy of a witness
Audio By Carbonatix
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents collided with a car driven by a person they were attempting to apprehend in a Mesa neighborhood last week, as crashes involving ICE become more common across the country.
Over the weekend, ICE confirmed to the Arizona Mirror that its agents were involved in the collision where “no one on scene sustained serious injuries.”
ICE said it was conducting an “enforcement action” on a man named Edicson Jesus Perez-Alvarado, an immigrant from Venezuela who lacks legal status in the United States. Perez-Alvarado, who has pending removal proceedings in Chicago, was at The Julia apartment complex in Mesa when he reversed his vehicle, striking an ICE vehicle behind him and fleeing the scene, according to ICE.
The agency “tracked his vehicle” and “attempted a second stop” and said he “failed to yield and collided with another ICE vehicle in front of him.” ICE said it has contacted the FBI to “pursue federal charges related to vehicular assault on federal agents.”
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“The men and women of ICE have been facing a surge in vehicle attacks. These attacks not only pose a potentially fatal risk to officers but also endanger the public,” ICE said in a statement to the Mirror. “ICE remains committed to ensuring the safety of its personnel and the communities they serve.”
The Mesa Police Department confirmed to the Mirror that it received reports about the collision and eventually learned that it involved ICE.
“Our preliminary review indicates that there were no significant injuries reported at the scene,” Mesa PD told the Mirror.
Mesa said it was not part of the operation and was not notified of the ICE activity in the area prior to the collision.
“Our role began once we were notified of the crash and responded to conduct the collision investigation,” Mesa Police told the Mirror.
Kevin Smith, a spokesman for the Phoenix FBI office, told the Mirror that the FBI has opened an assault on a federal officer investigation related to the crash, but was not involved in the crash or ICE’s efforts to apprehend Perez-Alvarado.
Video taken by a witness who lives in the neighborhood shows the moments shortly after the collision. An undercover SUV with flashing lights can be seen in front of a sedan with both of their front ends severely damaged.
The airbags of both the vehicles appear to have been deployed by the collision.
“Why did you run into me? You’re in trouble,” one agent can be heard saying to Perez-Alvarado as they pull him out of the car.
In the video, Perez-Alvarado is removed from the vehicle and thrown onto the pavement before being taken to another unmarked ICE vehicle.
“I am from Venezuela. No criminal,” Perez-Alvarado says to the cameraman as he is placed in the ICE vehicle. Those with no criminal history make up the largest portion of ICE arrests and detentions.
“You ran into a police officer. What did you think was going to happen?” one of the agents placing the man into the vehicle says back.
Car crashes involving ICE have become a common occurrence amid President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Many of these instances have been captured on video and show federal police using a tactic that has been banned in many states known as a PIT maneuver. PIT is an acronym for Precision Intervention Technique and it has been linked to 30 deaths between 2016 and 2020.
The witness in Mesa said that they had heard tires squealing and the sounds of a car accident which prompted them to investigate.
ICE has been using increasingly aggressive tactics under the Trump administration, many of which have included vehicles and the PIT maneuver. One video in California shows ICE agents appearing to intentionally crash into a suspect they were attempting to apprehend.
ICE agents often do not wear body-worn cameras and agents in the footage reviewed by the Mirror do not appear to be wearing them.
This story was first published by Arizona Mirror, which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.