A witness described how two federal immigration agents allegedly beat and seriously injured a U.S. citizen in a botched arrest attempt in Illinois, leaving the man dazed and bleeding on the ground as they walked away after realizing their apparent mistake. Bystander Ryan Garton told the Associated Press that he saw officers restraining the man, who is black, on the side of the road as he drove home Sunday in Evanston, a Chicago suburb. He said he stopped to record what was happening on video. “The upper socket of his right eye and his temple were swollen as if he had been punched,” Garton said. The man’s face, he added, was scraped “as if it had been ground against the sidewalk.” Garton, 56, said an officer had his knee on the man’s back and was “hitting” him, even as the person yelled, “I’m a citizen, leave me alone.” The witness said about five people were standing nearby, yelling at the officers to stop. Garton said he urged the officer to get off the man so he could inspect his injuries, and also claimed the officer acknowledged that he already knew the man was a U.S. citizen. As the officer walked away, Garton said he saw blood stains in the form of handprints on the man’s shirt. The man told Garton he had been walking to a pharmacy to pick up a prescription when officers stopped him. Another eyewitness, Michael Lipson, the owner of a store across the street from where the incident occurred, said he saw federal officers throw the man to the ground as the alleged victim repeatedly shouted that he was a citizen. The man’s face looked “very messy,” Lipson told the AP. Lipson said officers went through the cards and papers in the man’s wallet before leaving them scattered on the road. Lipson said he laid out his sweatshirt for the man to rest while Garton inspected his wounds. Illinois authorities said earlier this week they were investigating the incident, which ended with the victim in the hospital with injuries to his head, neck and teeth. It also left one of the officers with a bloody hand, which he told Evanston police he suffered while the suspect resisted attempts to handcuff him. Illinois authorities said earlier this week they were investigating the incident. Photo: Evanston Police via Facebook The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, said in a statement that ICE agents had “encountered an individual who resembled the target” of a law enforcement operation. “The individual was given lawful orders but was uncooperative and refused to identify himself,” the statement said, adding that officers “left the scene without further incident” after the man said who he was. “When ICE officers offered him individual assistance, he refused.” The most detailed accounts of the confrontation, which took place around 10 a.m. Sunday, come primarily from the city police department and local officials. He said the officers left because they claimed a crowd had gathered and they feared protesters would attack them. Daniel Biss, the Democratic mayor of Evanston, said in a post on “Surges” in Democratic-run cities and states in particular, and resulted in a record 50,000 arrests in July alone. “This violence must end. We need to bring the energy and fight from Evanston to Washington to abolish ICE, hold the Trump administration accountable, and end the funding of these brutal invasions in our cities,” Biss wrote. The incident was one of three separate violent events Sunday involving federal immigration agents. In Austin, Texas, an ICE agent shot and seriously injured a 28-year-old Venezuelan man during a traffic stop while he was working as a DoorDash delivery driver. In Michigan, authorities are investigating the death of a 36-year-old Guatemalan national who crashed his car into a tree at high speed after allegedly trying to flee from immigration agents who were trying to detain him. The Associated Press contributed reporting
