Person Dies Fleeing ICE-Related Traffic Stop in Florida

A person carrying a Mexican passport was killed after fleeing from a traffic stop involving ICE and HSI agents near St. Augustine, Florida, and being struck by a semi-truck.

Person Dies Fleeing ICE-Related Traffic Stop in Florida

A person died on Tuesday morning near St. Augustine, Florida, after fleeing from a vehicle stop involving U.S. immigration and law enforcement officers. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the individual ran from a vehicle on a gas station parking lot during an encounter with authorities and was subsequently hit by a semi-truck on a nearby road.

The deceased was one of four occupants in the vehicle who attempted to escape from the officers. The Florida Highway Patrol stated that preliminary findings indicated the person carried a Mexican passport. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed to dpa that the death occurred during an operation by law enforcement agencies, though ICE was not specifically named.

According to the highway patrol, both Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) — the division responsible for cross-border crimes — participated in the operation. The specific circumstances and reasons for the enforcement action remained unclear.

This incident marks at least the third death connected to ICE operations in recent days. Earlier, an ICE officer in Houston, Texas, shot and killed a Mexican immigrant during a check. Subsequently, a 26-year-old man from Colombia who reportedly held a U.S. work permit died during a similar incident in Maine, according to local civil rights organizations.

ICE operations have drawn significant scrutiny since the beginning of the year, when federal agents shot and killed U.S. citizens Renée Good and Alex Pretti during enforcement actions. Video recordings of those incidents raised serious questions about the official accounts provided by the agency.

Source: Watson

Source: Google News CH — Crime (de)