Man arrested after allegedly ramming agent’s vehicle in Escondido during immigration enforcement

A 19-year-old man was charged in San Diego federal court Tuesday with ramming a federal agent’s vehicle in Escondido during an immigration arrest, prosecutors said.

The man, a Mexican national, pleaded not guilty to assaulting a federal officer, assaulting a federal officer resulting in bodily injury and destruction of government property, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Federal authorities later determined he was not the original target of the immigration enforcement, according to the complaint. Officials did not disclose his immigration status.

According to prosecutors, officers with the Homeland Security Task Force were looking to arrest a particular person on suspicion of immigration violations on Monday morning.

The agents, who were wearing law enforcement identifiers, had intelligence that the target lived at a home in Escondido and drove a white pickup, the complaint says. The agents found the parked truck at the home, saw a man get in, then soon after pulled the truck over around 6:30 a.m. When asked to identify himself, the driver said he was a minor, the complaint states.

The man attempted to flee by driving away, striking the door of a federal vehicle parked nearby, as well as hitting the hip of a Homeland Security Investigations agent, the complaint says.

The pickup driver fled, but a short time later an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer arrived on scene and tried to block the pickup’s path with a vehicle. The pickup plowed into the government vehicle head-on, according to the complaint.

The pickup driver then put the truck in reverse, and the government vehicle pushed the pickup back into a home’s yard, the complaint states.

The driver was arrested. He later told investigators that he fled because he was scared and did not want to be “roughed up and thrown to the ground,” the complaint says.

The HSI agent refused medical treatment, but the ICE officer was taken to a hospital, according to the complaint. The crash caused damage estimated to be more than $1,000, the complaint says.