A Chicago man has been charged with assaulting a federal immigration agent with his car last October in Brighton Park.
Diego Emmanuel Reyes, 21, is accused of ramming his SUV into the back of a pickup truck driven by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Oct. 4 in the 3700 block of South Kedzie Avenue.
Video of the incident shows the driver of a black SUV pushing a silver pickup truck with its emergency lights activated into a lane on Kedzie Avenue that was closed for construction.
The driver of the SUV rams the truck again and backs up, as a federal agent who exited the truck points a gun at the SUV driver, according to the video.
The SUV driver then drives through a construction traffic barrier and flees, the video shows.
The federal indictment of Reyes was returned Wednesday. It charges him with assaulting, impeding, intimidating and interfering with an ICE officer using a deadly weapon.
An arraignment in federal court has not yet been scheduled.
U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros called the alleged ramming “a dangerous and brazen act of violence against a federal agent as well as an attack on the rule of law.”
“Federal agents perform risky, essential work every single day to enforce our federal laws and keep our communities safe,” Boutros said in a statement. “The Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office will never tolerate such conduct and will continue to hold accountable those who seek to assault, impede, intimidate, or interfere with lawful federal operations.”
“The Chicago Field Office has zero tolerance for anyone impeding federal officers engaged in their lawful functions,” added Douglas DePodesta, special agent-in-charge of the FBI Chicago field office. “The people of Chicago deserve to be safe and free from harm. The FBI is committed to using every available resource against those who undermine the rule of law and jeopardize the peace in our community.”
On the same day as this incident — and just two blocks away — a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent shot Marimar Martinez.
Officials have not indicated the two incidents are related. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Federal prosecutors initially charged Martinez and another driver, Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, with assaulting and impeding a federal agent but later dropped charges against both of them.