Attorney for man shot by ICE in California says his client did not try to run officers over
MODESTO, Calif. (AP) — An attorney for a man shot by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during an arrest in central California said Wednesday that his client did not try to run over officers with his car and disputed claims that he has a warrant out for his arrest in El Salvador.
The Department of Homeland Security said ICE agents fired defensive shots at Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez after he tried to drive into them on Tuesday. DHS said they were conducting an enforcement stop targeting Mendoza, 36, in Patterson, a city about 75 miles southeast of San Francisco. Officials described him as a suspected gang member wanted in El Salvador for questioning in connection to a murder.
Attorney Patrick Kolasinski, who is representing Mendoza and his family, said during a news conference that his client has been stopped for minor traffic infractions but has no criminal record in the U.S. and is not the subject of an arrest warrant in El Salvador, where he was acquitted of murder.
Kolasinski said he has found no evidence his client was part of any street gang but he added he has not had the chance to talk to him to confirm that.
“If he was released after being acquitted, with no other holds on him, he cannot have a warrant,” Kolasinski said. “So that information must be either erroneous or completely made up. And only DHS knows what they’re looking at.”
According to a Oct. 25, 2019 court document from a judge in El Salvador, Mendoza, who was 29 at the time, was acquitted after being accused of murder and ordered immediately released. The document lists 10 others who were convicted of various crimes from aggravated robbery to murder, and mentions at least one of them was a member of the 18th Street Gang. But there is no mention of Mendoza belonging to a gang or being accused of carrying out gang activity in the document.
Tuesday’s encounter was among a string of shootings that have happened during the Trump administration’s aggressive push to detain and deport illegal immigrants in which questions have been raised about the accounts by federal immigration officials.
DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comments about the lawyer’s statements.
Dashcam footage obtained by KCRA-TV shows three officers standing around a vehicle stopped on the side of a road. One of the officers appears to be touching the driver-side window when the car begins to back up and turn, hitting a vehicle behind it. At least two of the agents have weapons drawn, pointing at the car. The driver then pulls forward toward where the men are standing and turns sharply, driving over the roadway median.
The video has no sound and it’s unclear when the shots were fired and if words were said.
“He is doing everything he can to not run them over,” the attorney said of his client’s reaction during the arrest. He said he believes his client panicked and tried to flee. DHS said ICE agents were acting as trained.
Mendoza’s family and his attorney have not been allowed to see him since he was hospitalized.




