A 28-year-old Venezuelan DoorDash driver who was shot by an ICE officer in Texas this month is now facing a federal assault charge, MS NOW reports. Wilber Rafael Garces-Perez appeared in court on Tuesday, one day after prosecutors filed the case in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
The complaint was filed on Monday, just over a week after the Sept. 20 shooting. A Justice Department statement said a conviction for assaulting an officer could mean as much as 20 years in prison. Magistrate Judge Dustin Howell scheduled a detention hearing for Oct. 2.
Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, the attorney for Garces-Perez, called both the charge and Tuesday’s hearing “a surprise.” In a statement to MS NOW, she said, “Rather than provide the life saving medical care he needs, DHS and the government are playing games with his life.” A DHS spokesperson pointed questions to the Justice Department, which did not immediately comment.
Agents say a side mirror hit an officer as the driver tried to leave
Lincoln-Goldfinch had previously told reporters that officers in an unmarked car twice sideswiped her client’s vehicle before shots were fired. She said he was taken to a hospital, then released into ICE custody with a bullet still near his spine, and that he returned to the hospital the next day.
She said he came to the United States in 2024 to seek asylum and had a valid work permit. According to the attorney, ICE later issued a deportation order after he missed a hearing because the notice was sent to an old address.
The criminal complaint includes an affidavit from DHS special agent Rick Bazan. That affidavit alleges the driver’s side mirror of Garces-Perez’s car struck an ICE agent in the torso when Garces-Perez tried to flee. Questions about evidence in the case arise, such as when an ICE agent left his assigned body camera unequipped during the shooting.
The affidavit says agents first ran the car through an immigration database after they saw it parked against a curb with its emergency lights on. It states the vehicle was registered to Garces-Perez and that a judge had already issued a final order of removal.
Officers then stopped him, the affidavit says. It states he asked to move the car so he could park, then tried to drive off, and that the mirror allegedly hit one of the agents at that moment. The case raises questions about accountability when ICE officers use force.
Only one of the two officers on scene wore a body camera, the filing says, and it was not the officer said to have been struck. Still images from that camera appear to show the mirror moving toward that officer’s torso, the affidavit states. The officer wearing the camera spoke with investigators. The filing does not explain why the officer who fired was not wearing a camera or why he did not speak to investigators.
The affidavit alleges that after the mirror contact, Garces-Perez led officers “on a high-speed chase through a commercial and residential area.” It states the officer who shot him told the other officer, who was in a separate car, that he fired after Garces-Perez allegedly tried to hit him with the vehicle.
Garces-Perez told investigators he did try to drive away after the stop, the affidavit says. It says he did not appear to admit that his mirror struck an officer. He instead said the agents’ SUV hit his car, the car spun, and he was then shot in the back through the rear-right window.
The Sept. 20 shooting prompted anti-ICE protests and drew condemnation from Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, a Democrat. Garces-Perez also has a deportation hearing set for Wednesday in San Antonio. It is unclear whether that hearing will proceed while the assault case moves forward.
