U.S. Citizen Injured During ICE Operation in Long Beach: Mayor Asks DHS for Independent Investigation as ICE Denies Hitting Him
In North Long Beach, a city in Los Angeles County, California, a man who says he is a U.S. citizen was injured on October 17 during an enforcement operation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): Ricardo Gonzalez was stopped and detained by ICE agents while riding an e-bike near Elm Avenue and 56th Street, and was hurt in the encounter. According to CNN, Mayor Rex Richardson said Gonzalez had called 911 to report an escalating situation and ask for help; when Long Beach police officers arrived, they found him handcuffed and bleeding while being detained by ICE. Officers took him to a nearby fire station, where his handcuffs were removed, and fire department personnel then transported him to a hospital for treatment.
This week Richardson sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and filed a formal complaint with the DHS Office of Inspector General, calling for an independent investigation into the use-of-force incident and asking that all agents involved be removed from enforcement duties until the investigation is complete; the complaint said Gonzalez reportedly was subjected to repeated Taser use, was forcibly restrained and sustained significant injuries. Witness Sherman Austin told CNN he saw an unmarked vehicle strike Gonzalez, after which agents got out, tasered him and pinned him to the ground; his daughter, Leslie Gonzalez, also said her father was tased twice and suffered a broken arm. In videos of the incident, Gonzalez can be heard yelling, "Help me, my arm is broken," while being held down against a curb. Gonzalez worked for the City of Long Beach for about seven years, most recently with Long Beach Utilities.
An ICE spokesperson offered a different account in a statement on Tuesday: ICE said it conducted a targeted enforcement operation in Long Beach on October 17 to arrest an at-large criminal illegal alien, and that during the operation people attempted to impede the operation, threaten officers and damage government vehicles. "ICE did NOT hit an individual on a bike," the statement said, adding that the arrested man had smashed the mirror of a government vehicle and that "resisting arrest is dangerous and can result in injury." The man was transferred to the custody of local police, and ICE said it is investigating potential charges for the damage to the government vehicle. ICE did not answer CNN's question about whether Gonzalez is a U.S. citizen. Surveillance footage obtained by KTLA shows an unmarked SUV driving the wrong way down a one-way street, but the camera angle does not show whether the e-bike and the SUV collided.
In a statement released the day of the incident, the Long Beach Police Department said ICE personnel had requested assistance from city police and fire personnel because of vehicle vandalism and a person in need of medical aid, and that officers at Locust Avenue and Ellis Street encountered a large group disturbance involving the ICE agents; the department said it took no part in immigration enforcement and made no arrests. Gonzalez's specific injuries have not been officially released.
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Photo: 图：加州 Long Beach 市北区（North Long Beach）街区航拍（资料图，非事发现场）。Darkest tree 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经维基共享资源。File photo: aerial view of North Long Beach, California (not the incident scene). Photo by Darkest tree, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
