A U.S. citizen was hospitalized with injuries to his head, neck and teeth after federal agents detained him in Evanston, Illinois, before determining he was not the fugitive they were seeking, according to local police.
The encounter occurred Sunday morning near Howard Street and Dodge Avenue. Evanston police said responding officers found the man on the ground and later documented his injuries at a hospital.
An Evanston officer encountered two SUVs nearby and spoke with a person wearing plain clothes and a vest marked "POLICE" with federal law enforcement markings. The person identified himself as a federal agent conducting a "fugitive investigation," according to police.
The agent said authorities were trying to identify someone who resembled the person they were seeking. He told police the man refused to provide identification, was detained for fingerprinting and resisted detention.
Federal agents subsequently determined the man was not their target and was a U.S. citizen, police said. He was released. An agent told local police that federal personnel left after protesters began gathering because they feared they would be attacked.
Witnesses believed the agents were from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and a community activist who monitors ICE activity provided video of the encounter to ABC7 Chicago. Authorities, however, have publicly identified those involved only as federal agents.
Evanston police are investigating the incident and have asked anyone with video or other information to contact the department.
The case comes as encounters involving federal immigration officers face scrutiny elsewhere in the country. In Austin, Texas, an ICE officer shot 28-year-old Venezuelan DoorDash driver Wilber Rafael Garces Perez in the back Sunday during an immigration enforcement operation.
Federal authorities say Garces Perez had a deportation order and fled after officers approached him. His attorney has disputed that account. CNN reported Tuesday that the officer who fired the shot was placed on administrative leave, standard procedure following a shooting.
Garces Perez was returned to ICE custody after hospital treatment with the bullet still lodged near his spine, according to his attorney, who said he had lost movement on his left side. The circumstances leading to that shooting remain disputed.
