On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in a press release that a Venezuelan man appeared in federal court that day, charged with assaulting, resisting, obstructing, and impeding federal law enforcement officers.
The complaint against the 28-year-old man named Wilber Rafael Garces Perez referenced a video recorded on September 20 by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Austin, Texas, who was wearing a body camera.
In the video, another ICE officer not wearing a body camera asked Perez to exit his vehicle, but Perez fled in his car and struck another ICE officer with the car’s side mirror. The footage of the incident has not been released.
According to the indictment filed on Monday in the Western District of Texas federal court, the officer without a body camera pursued Perez and quickly caught up to him.
The complaint alleges that Perez attempted to ram the officer with his car, prompting the officer to fire his gun at him.
The public video does not capture the shooting itself, only showing Perez injured and lying inside the vehicle afterward. According to the indictment, Perez told Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials investigating the case that an officer driving an SUV collided with his car, causing it to spin, before he was shot.
Perez’s attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, has not responded to media requests for comment.
In a post on Instagram on Sunday, she mentioned that her client still has a bullet in his body and a fractured collarbone. Supporters are concerned that without prompt surgery, he may develop sepsis and suffer permanent damage.
DHS stated that Perez is receiving adequate medical care.
Perez is scheduled to appear in front of a federal immigration judge in Texas on Wednesday for a hearing to determine whether he can remain in the United States.
(Information sourced from Reuters)