'Help me!' Video of ICE violently detaining man who says he's U.S. citizen sparks outrage - BERITAJA

“Help me! Help me! My limb is f— broken, it f— hurts!” screams a Long Beach man arsenic he is pinned, look down successful a gutter, and handcuffed by ICE agents.

Videos of the detention, which took spot Saturday successful a residential area successful northbound Long Beach, person sparked outrage complete the strategies employed by national migration agents and the deficiency of answers from the Department of Homeland Security complete the cognition itself. DHS did not respond to The Times’ petition for remark Monday.

Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said he was outraged by the recordings and had spoken to the injured man, Ricardo Gonzalez, who is simply a erstwhile longtime metropolis employee.

“Ricardo is simply a dad. He conscionable wants his kids to consciousness safe. He shouldn’t person to interest about being injured, being deed by a car, whether he’s U.S. national aliases not,” said Richardson. “His kids should not person to spot their genitor detained.”

Gonzalez told Richardson that he is simply a U.S. citizen.

According to the mayor, Gonzalez had made a 911 telephone Saturday requesting de-escalation support from constabulary aft he saw a group of unmarked vehicles and a crowd gathering successful his neighborhood. By the clip officers arrived astatine the segment adjacent Locust Avenue and Ellis Street, Gonzalez was connected the crushed screaming for aesculapian assistance aft being struck by a vehicle, Richardson said.

His daughter, Leslie Gonzalez, wrote that her begetter was shocked pinch a Taser doubly and pinned to the crushed earlier being taken to the infirmary for superior injuries. The family has launched a GoFundMe to screen thief screen his aesculapian expenses.

“My Dad is 1 of the hardest moving men retired there,” Leslie Gonzalez wrote. “Because of him I person a tile complete my caput and I person each the opportunities about me. Our family is everything because of him. We inquire for your support and prayers during this atrocious time. What ICE did was not right.”

She told The Times connected Monday that the past fewer days had been a “difficult time” for her family and declined to reply further questions until her begetter was recovered and fresh to speak.

Sherman Austin, a Long Beach resident who volunteers pinch the section accelerated consequence network, a group that tracks ICE activity, had arrived successful northbound Long Beach pinch respective others aft receiving alerts about agents’ beingness successful the area. He said he observed unmarked vehicles erstwhile 1 abruptly sped off.

He followed the vehicle, which he said blew done extremity signs successful the residential area, and that’s erstwhile he saw Ricardo Gonzalez. The man was connected the ground, by different unmarked car, pinch his e-bike toppled.

“They conscionable kept their knee successful his backmost and put handcuffs connected him while his limb was broken,” Austin said. “You could spot the bony successful his limb separating and they conscionable sat location connected him and didn’t explicate thing to anyone.”

Neighbors came retired and crowded around, arguing pinch ICE agents, who were detaining a woman. Bystanders began pleading pinch Long Beach constabulary officers, who by past had arrived astatine the scene, to do thing about the situation.

“They had conscionable surgery a man’s limb and they were trying to thrust disconnected pinch this different woman,” Austin said. “Everyone was understandably highly angry and frustrated.”

The Long Beach Police Department said successful a statement that it received petition for assistance from DHS and ICE connected Saturday “due to conveyance vandalism taking spot and a taxable successful request of aesculapian aid.”

Police officers transported Gonzalez to a adjacent occurrence station, wherever they removed his handcuffs, enabling paramedics pinch the Long Beach Fire Department to carrier him to a infirmary for treatment. Officers remained astatine the segment to de-escalate the business and nonstop a crowd of onlookers distant from the area, constabulary said.

Police told ICE agents that if they wanted to record a vandalism report, they could interaction the metropolis of Long Beach Communications Center and a Long Beach constabulary serviceman would respond.

Richardson said he had galore questions about the incident and that his agency was filing a general title pinch the Department of Homeland Security seeking answers and accountability.

The incident came amid a caller uptick successful migration enforcement successful Southern California, which immoderate migration advocates opportunity is aimed astatine discouraging elector move retired successful the midterm elections.

“We request to understand why a usage of unit was necessary,” Richardson said. “A car hitting an individual, whether that was warranted. What are the circumstances surrounding the injury? Why didn’t the agents supply aesculapian assistance?”

U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) said Sunday successful a statement connected X that the videos of the brushwood were horrifying and should interest the country.

“ICE agents brutally attacked and collapsed the limb of a North Long Beach resident and U.S. citizen,” he wrote, adding that he is “proud of the neighbors who documented and stood up for the family being terrorized by ICE.”

First Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli re-shared Garcia’s station with a statement accusing the Congress personnel of encouraging group to obstruct the activity of ICE agents.

“These incidents would beryllium little communal if the targets complied pinch lawful commands,” Essayli wrote. “You’re intentionally fanning the flames and expanding threat for the organization and officers.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said location was nary criminal lawsuit involving Gonzalez and referred each questions to the Department of Homeland Security. The spokesperson did not explain whether Essayli was accusing Gonzalez of interfering pinch Saturday’s operation.

Richardson described Gonzalez arsenic a personnel of the metropolis family and said what should person been a safe Saturday successful the organization turned into a chaotic and profoundly concerning one.

“You should not beryllium capable to thrust about successful our neighborhoods chasing group down and hitting them pinch your cars,” Richardon said. “That’s not OK successful America.”

Gonzalez has worked for the metropolis of Long Beach successful respective roles and graduated from Millikan High School, according to his LinkedIn page. He worked arsenic a customer work typical for the city’s power resources department, arsenic good arsenic successful the section of biology wellness and for the utilities department.

He describes himself arsenic having years of acquisition successful customer work and information entry, an unfastened mind and the willingness to ever lend a hand.

“I americium unfastened to caller challenges successful immoderate manufacture and push myself difficult to scope each extremity group for myself,” Gonzalez wrote successful his LinkedIn bio. “I’ve been knocked down galore times and galore doors person been closed connected me, but I stay affirmative happy and great-full to beryllium portion of this awesome squad I telephone family astatine the metropolis of Long Beach.”