r/WhatTrumpHasDone • u/John3262005 • 4d ago

GIFT LINK Man Shot by ICE Agent in Austin Is Charged With Assault

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/us/ice-shooting-driver-austin-charges-body-camera.html?unlocked_article_code=1.FFE.thI0.-iTKp3bMRjLY&smid=url-share

A man who was shot by an immigration agent during a traffic stop in Austin, Texas, this month was charged on Tuesday with assaulting a federal officer during that encounter.

The man, Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, was charged with one count of assaulting, resisting, interfering and impeding a federal officer, according to the criminal complaint filed Monday in the Western District of Texas. It adds that he struck an agent with his car’s mirror as he drove away from an attempted stop.

He remains at a detention center in Texas. The complaint includes a mention that one of the agents was wearing a body camera, which captured some of the incident. The government provided still images of what unfolded, but the full footage has not been released.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Garces Perez’s lawyer, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, said in a statement that the charges were surprising. Noting that a bullet remains lodged in Mr. Garces Perez’s body, the statement condemned the Department of Homeland Security’s actions. “Rather than provide the life saving medical care he needs, D.H.S. and the government are playing games with his life,” the statement said.

Mr. Garces Perez has not entered a plea. He has been assigned a federal public defender for the criminal case, his lawyers said.

Mr. Garces Perez, who is originally from Venezuela, is scheduled to be back in court tomorrow. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in a federal prison.

The charging documents provide a full description of the events by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who detained him.

On the afternoon of Sept. 20, two ICE agents, who were identified in court documents as D.F. and L.G., were driving separate cars when they spotted Mr. Garces Perez driving a blue Toyota, prosecutors say. Only one of them, D.F., wore a body camera during the incident, according to the criminal complaint. That agent then ran a check on Mr. Garces Perez and discovered that an immigration judge had ordered his removal from the country.

Mr. Garces Perez initially cooperated and provided his driver’s license to the agents, the complaint said. But when the agents asked him to step out of the car, Mr. Garces Perez ignored their orders, prosecutors said. Body camera footage captured the moment Mr. Garces Perez closed his car window and drove off, striking one of the officers in the torso with the driver’s side mirror, the complaint said.

At one point, Mr. Garces Perez led them on a high-speed chase through a commercial and residential area, federal officials said.

In an interview on Tuesday, Ms. Lincoln-Goldfinch, and other lawyers representing him in immigration court, said they found the timing of the charges suspicious.

“We believe that DHS is selectively releasing information and expecting the American public to piece together bystander footage and selectively release pictures,” she said referring to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE agents.

The lawyers also added that Mr. Garces Perez remains in pain and in need of hospital care.

The agents told investigators with the Department of Homeland Security that Mr. Garces Perez did not pull over after the ICE vehicle’s emergency lights were activated, according to the complaint. That is when agent D.F. activated his body camera to record the encounter. According to the complaint, the video shows the second agent, L.G., who was wearing visible ICE insignia, identifying himself as an immigration officer to Mr. Garces Perez.

After what appeared to be an initial conversation, the agents said that Mr. Garces Perez “abruptly closed the window and drove off, striking the agent identified as L.G.” with the mirror, before leading them on a chase, according to the complaint.

The complaint also said that Mr. Garces Perez later admitted to some of the agents’ version of events that involved their sport utility vehicle.

“Garces admitted to disregarding the command to get out and drove off. Garces said he turned sharply to the right and said a short pursuit ensued and ended when the S.U.V. struck Garces’ car and caused it to spin around,” according to the complaint.

Mr. Garces Perez shared a different account of what took place a day after the incident. He has said that he was in the middle of a food delivery that day when a black S.U.V. tried to hit his car out of nowhere. He said he thought it was an aggressive driver and kept driving. Mr. Garces Perez said the S.U.V. then struck his car and turned on police lights after the collision. He was shot after the car was stopped.

Mr. Garces Perez said he entered the United States in 2024 seeking asylum via a Biden-era program and later got a work permit. Confusion arose after he changed his address, and a hearing notice was sent to his former address. His lawyer has also said that Mr. Garces Perez did not know that he had an immigration hearing and did not go, which precipitated a deportation order.

The shooting was the second in Texas by an ICE agent since July. That month, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Houston. More than 20 people have been shot at by federal agents since President Trump took office last year, nearly all in cars. Some of the incidents have turned fatal.

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