ICE agent points gun at bystander during violent North Hollywood arrest
Video of a masked ICE agent dragging a Venezuelan man into custody in North Hollywood has gone viral, after an agent appeared to point a gun at an unarmed neighbour walking his dogs.
ICE agent draws gun on bystander during North Hollywood arrest, video shows
A masked ICE agent appeared to point a firearm at an unarmed neighbour's face during a violent arrest outside an apartment complex on Otsego Street in North Hollywood on Friday morning, abc7.com reports.
Video footage, which has spread widely online, shows agents dragging 27-year-old Angel Luis Gonzalez Lobo — identified by his family as a Venezuelan national — to a waiting vehicle in handcuffs. Three agents were seen lifting the man by his arms and legs as he cried out in pain.
Moments after the initial arrest, an agent approached a resident walking two dogs on the sidewalk. The agent appeared to point his weapon directly at the man's face and pushed him into a bush. The neighbour was unarmed. Just before the confrontation, he had picked up what appeared to be a canister of pepper spray from the ground, but discarded it immediately as agents moved toward him, shouting, "I thought it was his!"
Witness Damari Butler, who filmed the encounter, described the scene as chaotic. "It was a no-questions-asked thing. They just came up on him, and it was a tussle in the bushes," he said. Butler said the agent drew the weapon when the neighbour stepped closer to the scene. "The ICE agent pulled out a gun, backed him up in the bushes with the gun to his face, which was insane. At that point, I'm going to be honest with you, I thought that was the end for him."
Butler also said that agents appeared to use a taser on Gonzalez Lobo while he was on the ground before attempting to restrain him further and loading him into the vehicle. A second car arrived as agents struggled to place the man inside.
The footage additionally shows the dog-walker picking up a second object from the ground. An agent pursued him and ordered him to drop it before appearing to spray something at him.
"It just felt very chaotic," Butler said. "It didn't feel like anybody actually knew what they were doing on that side. It just felt like, 'If we need to use excessive force to get what we need — do it.'"
A neighbour who gave her name only as Nancy said she felt frightened throughout the incident. "Until you actually witness it, it's actually really sad. Whether I was with my child or not, I was a bit scared. I was scared for the man that was being dragged. I was scared for myself and my son. I just didn't feel safe walking outside my apartment building," she said.
Gonzalez Lobo's brother told abc7.com he does not know the reason for the arrest.
The Department of Homeland Security had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
The footage prompted swift reactions from Los Angeles city officials. Mayor Karen Bass said the conduct shown in the video was unacceptable and announced she was engaging the Attorney General's Office to investigate and potentially prosecute the agents involved. Bass also referred the matter to the office of U.S. Representative Robert Garcia, whom she described as the ranking Democrat leading oversight of federal immigration enforcement abuses. "We beat Trump and ICE in court, and new state laws have implemented accountability measures for ICE agents to protect our communities," Bass said in her statement.
Councilwoman and mayoral candidate Nithya Raman issued a statement on social media calling the events "violent ICE kidnappings" and said Los Angeles was "not a playground for the Trump regime's inhumane operations." She added that residents should not have to fear going to work or taking their children to school.
Source: Google News MT