Federal prosecutors in Texas have charged a Venezuelan delivery driver who was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent earlier this month with assaulting a federal officer, according to court documents unveiled Tuesday.
The prosecutors accused 28-year-old Wilber Rafael Garces Perez of striking an ICE officer with his vehicle’s side-view mirror as he drove away in an attempt to evade arrest. Garces Perez faces one count of assaulting, resisting and impeding a federal officer.
An agent from the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations laid out the allegations in an eight-page affidavit filed in support of a criminal complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
The agent said he had interviewed one of the two ICE officers who was involved in the Sept. 20 incident, identified as D.F. The other officer, L.G., was the one who opened fire, and that officer’s account is not included in the filing.
D.F. said both agents began following Garces Perez’s car after checking his license plate and finding that he had a final order of removal from an immigration judge.
The agents were in separate vehicles and pulled Garces Perez over, the affidavit said, parking in front of and behind Garces Perez’s car. The agents approached and told Garces Perez to get out, according to the affidavit, but he allegedly ignored the order and asked one of the agents, L.G., if he could move the car and park it.
“Approximately one minute later, GARCES abruptly closed the window and drove off. L.G. tried to avoid contact with the car but GARCES’ driver’s side-view mirror struck L.G. in his torso as it drove off,” the affidavit said.
The court filing includes three images captured from D.F.’s body camera showing L.G. standing to the side of the vehicle and appearing to move out of the way as the car moves forward:
Garces Perez then “led them on a high-speed chase through a commercial and residential area,” the affidavit said. D.F. said he requested assistance from dispatchers and lost sight of both other vehicles. L.G. soon called him on the phone and “told D.F. that GARCES had attempted to strike L.G. with his car and L.G. had fired his pistol,” the affidavit said. L.G. was not wearing a body camera.
The HSI agent who wrote the affidavit also said he spoke to Garces Perez as part of the investigation. The Venezuelan man said one of the agents struck his car during the initial traffic stop, a detail that was disputed by D.F. He said he declined to exit the car when ordered: “GARCES said he knew he was going to be apprehended so he asked L.G. to let him park his car so his wife could come and pick it up for him.”
Garces Perez acknowledged driving off and said the short pursuit ended when “the SUV struck GARCES’ car and caused it to spin around.”
“After coming to a forced stop, GARCES recalled L.G. firing his pistol into the backright window of GARCES’ car. GARCES was struck with a bullet in his upper back. GARCES stated after he was shot, L.G. opened the driver’s door of his car and removed the keys from the ignition. He then told GARCES to stay inside and an ambulance was enroute,” the affidavit said.
The bullet lodged close to Garces Perez’s spine and had not been removed as of last week. He is currently being held at an ICE detention facility in Texas. His attorney and Democratic lawmakers have said he is in intense pain and needs surgery.
Last week, a federal judge ordered Garces Perez to attend an in-person hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 30, effectively blocking ICE from deporting him until then.
