A federal grand jury has indicted a 36-year-old man who was shot multiple times by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers during a targeted traffic stop in April. The three-count indictment against Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez was returned last Thursday after ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons claimed that he had “weaponized” his vehicle against an officer during the stop. Mendoza Hernandez denied this allegation, which DHS has also made against other people who’ve been the subject of federal agents’ violence in the past. Video released in multiple prior cases has gone on to contradict the agency’s claims.
The indictment of Mendoza Hernandez includes two counts of assault on a federal officer with a deadly weapon and one count of destruction of government property, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California announced in a press release. Mendoza Hernandez is set to be arraigned on Monday and could face numerous years in prison if he’s convicted.
“We have faith in the court system and believe that, once all the evidence is put before an impartial jury, Carlos will be exonerated,” Patrick Kolasinski, an attorney for Mendoza Hernandez, said in a statement to The New York Times. “To that end, we look forward to having our day in court.”
According to Kolasinski, federal agents pulled over Mendoza Hernandez while he was on his way to work on April 7 in Patterson, Calif. The agents, which included three ICE officers and one Customs and Border Protection officer, sought to “locate and arrest” Mendoza Hernandez because of his undocumented status, per a criminal complaint written by FBI Special Agent Brian Toy.
Once Mendoza Hernandez pulled over and identified himself, an agent told him he was being detained and asked that he step out of his vehicle, the complaint stated. Mendoza Hernandez allegedly did not do so, and an agent eventually responded by breaking his front passenger side window as part of efforts to extract him. Mendoza Hernandez is then accused of driving forward about one foot and hitting an agent. Around that time, an agent fired at him, per the complaint. Mendoza Hernandez then allegedly reversed his car and hit the agents’ vehicle behind him. After reversing, he’s accused of accelerating forward toward two agents, including one who moved out of the way. Agents fired shots at him again, per the complaint, which did not include interviews with the two agents who discharged their weapons. DHS claimed these were “defensive shots.”
Mendoza Hernandez has emphasized, via statements shared by Kolasinski, that he did not move his car until after agents fired on him, and that he was driving away to flee the gunshots. He’s also said he wasn’t trying to harm anyone. Dash camera video published by local California news outlet KCRA showed parts of the incident, though it’s not clear in the footage when shots were fired at Mendoza Hernandez. The footage showed him reversing and then driving across the median.
Mendoza Hernandez suffered multiple wounds and needed three surgeries after the shooting, Kolasinski said. ICE has also claimed that Mendoza Hernandez is a member of the 18th Street Gang and that he’s wanted for questioning in connection with a murder in El Salvador. Mendoza Hernandez has denied any gang membership, and Kolasinski has said he was previously acquitted of murder in El Salvador.
“We are confident in our law enforcement’s intelligence, and we aren’t going to share intelligence reports and undermine national security every time a gang member denies he is one. That would be insane,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. The FBI took Mendoza Hernandez into custody in mid-April. He was denied bail because a judge suggested that he was a flight risk. A dual citizen of El Salvador and Mexico, Mendoza Hernandez is engaged to a U.S. citizen named Cindy and is the father of a 2-year-old daughter.
The allegations against Mendoza Hernandez are similar to ones DHS has levied against other people who’ve been subject to federal agents’ violence. In January, DHS accused Renee Nicole Good of weaponizing her vehicle against agents and being a domestic terrorist after she was fatally shot by a federal agent. Video published of the shooting later contradicted those statements. Last fall, teacher’s aide Marimar Martinez was also indicted after a Border Patrol agent shot her multiple times. DHS said she rammed her vehicle into the agents’ car. Prosecutors eventually dropped the charges. Video of the incident later showed Border Patrol ramming Martinez’s vehicle.
