“Help me! Help me! My arm is fucking broken, it hurts!” a Long Beach man shouts as ICE agents restrain him, face down in a sewer, and handcuff him. Share via Close Additional sharing options Videos of the arrest, which took place Saturday in a residential area north of Long Beach, have sparked outrage over the tactics employed by federal immigration agents and the lack of responses from the Department of Homeland Security about the operation itself. DHS did not respond to The Times’ request for comment on Monday. Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said he was outraged by the recordings and had spoken with the injured man, Ricardo Gonzalez, a former longtime city employee. “Ricardo is a father,” Richardson said. “He just wants his kids to feel safe. They shouldn’t have to worry about getting hurt or hit by a car. Kids shouldn’t have to see their parents detained, whether you’re a U.S. citizen or not.” Gonzalez told Richardson he is a U.S. citizen. On Monday, Richardson filed a complaint with the DHS Office of Inspector General requesting an independent investigation into the use of force incident and that all officers involved be removed from field policing until that investigation is completed. According to the mayor, González had made a 911 call on Saturday requesting police support to de-escalate tensions after seeing a group of unmarked vehicles and a crowd gathering in his neighborhood. When officers arrived at the scene near Locust Avenue and Ellis Street, Gonzalez was on the ground screaming for medical help after being hit by a vehicle, Richardson said. His daughter, Leslie Gonzalez, wrote that her father was shocked twice with a Taser and pinned to the ground before being taken to the hospital for serious injuries. The family has launched a GoFundMe to help cover his medical expenses. “My dad is one of the hardest working men there is,” wrote Leslie González. “Because of him I have a roof over my head and I have every opportunity around me. Our family is everything because of him. We ask for your support and prayers during this terrible time. What ICE did was not right.” She told the Times on Monday that the last few days had been “a difficult time” for her family and declined to answer further questions until her father had recovered and was ready to talk. Sherman Austin, a Long Beach resident who volunteers with the Local Rapid Response Network, a group that tracks immigration and Customs Enforcement activity, had arrived in North Long Beach with several other people after receiving alerts about the presence of agents in the area. He said he observed unmarked vehicles when one suddenly accelerated. He followed the vehicle, which he said ran through stop signs in the residential area, and that’s when he saw Ricardo González. The man was on the ground, next to another unmarked car, with his electric bicycle overturned. “They just pinned his knee to his back and put handcuffs on him while they broke his arm,” Austin said. “You could see the bone in his arm separating and they just sat on it and didn’t explain anything to anyone.” Neighbors came out and crowded around, arguing with ICE agents, who were detaining a woman. Bystanders began pleading with Long Beach police officers, who had already arrived at the scene, to do something about it. “They had just broken a man’s arm and were trying to leave with this other woman,” Austin said. “Everyone was understandably extremely angry and frustrated.” The Long Beach Police Department said in a statement that it received a request for assistance from DHS and ICE on Saturday “due to vehicle vandalism taking place and a subject in need of medical assistance.” Police officers transported Gonzalez to a nearby fire station, where they removed his handcuffs, allowing Long Beach Fire Department paramedics to transport him to a hospital for treatment. Officers remained at the scene to calm the situation and clear the crowd of onlookers from the area, police said. Police told ICE agents that if they wanted to file a vandalism report, they could contact the City of Long Beach Communications Center and a Long Beach police officer would respond. The incident came amid a recent surge in immigration enforcement in Southern California. Some immigration advocates say their goal is to discourage voter turnout in the midterm elections. “We need to understand why the use of force was necessary,” Richardson said. “A car that hit an individual, if that was justified. What are the circumstances surrounding the injury? Why didn’t the officers provide medical assistance?” Richardson demanded that DHS answer these questions and provide information about the purpose and scope of the broader law enforcement operation in his complaint to the Office of Inspector General. “A federal badge is not a license to brutalize people, ignore their constitutional rights, or deny medical care to anyone who needs it,” he wrote in the complaint. “No one is above the law, including law enforcement officers.” U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) said in a statement on X on Sunday that the videos of the encounter were horrifying and should concern the country. “ICE agents brutally attacked and broke the arm of a North Long Beach resident and US citizen,” he wrote, adding that he is “proud of the neighbors who documented and defended the family who were being terrorized by ICE.” Bill Essayli reshared Garcia’s post with a statement accusing the member of Congress of encouraging people to obstruct the work of ICE agents. “These incidents would be less common if targets complied with lawful orders,” Essayli wrote. “You are intentionally fanning the flames and increasing the danger to the community and officers.” A Justice Department spokesperson said there was no criminal case involving Gonzalez and referred all questions to DHS. The spokesman did not clarify whether Essayli was accusing González of interfering with Saturday’s operation. Richardson described Gonzalez as a member of the city family and said what should have been a safe Saturday in the community turned into a chaotic and deeply troubling one. “You shouldn’t be able to drive around our neighborhoods chasing people and hitting them with your cars,” Richardson said. “That’s not right in America.” Gonzalez has worked for the city of Long Beach in various positions and graduated from Millikan High School, according to his LinkedIn page. She worked as a customer service representative for the city’s energy resources department, as well as the environmental health department and public utilities department. He describes himself as having years of experience in customer service and data entry, an open mind, and a willingness to always lend a hand. “I am open to new challenges in any industry and I work hard to achieve every goal I set for myself,” González wrote in his LinkedIn bio. “I have been knocked down many times and many doors have been closed on me, but I remain positive, happy and full of being part of this great team that I call family in the city of Long Beach.”
