ICE may have mistaken man they shot in California for someone else: attorney
ICE shoots person near California's I-5 freeway: sheriff
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers shot someone in Patterson, Calif., leading to the partial closure of the I-5 freeway in Stanislaus County, the sheriff announced on Tuesday
PATTERSON, Calif. - Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers who shot a man on Tuesday in California's Central Valley along Interstate Highway 5 may have mistaken him for someone else with a similar name, according to his attorney.
Mistaken identity?
The other side:
Patrick Kolasinski, who is representing Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez and his family, told the Associated Press and KCRA that "Mr. Hernandez is not, and has never been a gang member, and is instead a caring father who was on his way to work when he was stopped."
Kolasinski later confirmed this with KTVU as well. He added that his client had been arrested in El Salvador, but the charges were dismissed. He didn't elaborate.
Hernandez was taken to the hospital after he was shot Tuesday morning in Patterson, Calif., along Interstate Highway 5 by ICE officers.
Patterson, Calif., is about 30 miles southeast of Tracy and is known as the "apricot capital of the world."
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said in a statement that officers were conducting a targeted operation, seeking Hernandez, whom they called an 18th Street gang member from El Salvador who they wanted to question in connection with a murder, which they didn't elaborate on.
However, Kolasinski told the AP his client works as a laborer, doing fire damage rehabilitation.
His family has not been allowed in to see him at the hospital but were told by a social worker that he is stable, Kolasinski said.
Kolasinski told the Sacramento Bee that Hernandez lived in Patterson and has an American fiancée and a 2-year-old daughter, who is a U.S. citizen and another child who lives in El Salvador.
Kolasinski noted that Hernandez hadn’t applied for U.S. citizenship but also wasn’t subject to a deportation order.
When the shooting occurred, Hernandez had been on his way to a job in the Bay Area, Kolasinski told the Bee.
ICE did not immediately comment on Wednesday as to Kolanski's allegation that officers possibly pulled over the wrong man.
Dashcam video shows ICE agents shoot alleged gang member near I-5 in California
Dashcam video captured the moments Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents opened fire Tuesday on an alleged gang member near Interstate 5 in Patterson, California.
Dashcam video
Dig deeper:
Video shows moment ICE officer shoots suspect near California's I-5
Dashcam video obtained by KTVU shows the moments before and after an ICE agent shot someone in Patterson, Calif. on Tuesday.
What's clear from dashcam video from a passing driver, however, is that when officers pulled Hernandez over on the side of the road, he backed up his small black car and then put it into drive, making a hard left to conduct a U-turn across the center median. One officer is seen hopping out of the way.
At least two of the officers have weapons drawn, pointing at the car.
The video has no sound, and it's unclear when the shots were fired and if words were said.
Lyons also described what Hernandez did as "weaponizing his vehicle" against the officers.
However, Kolasinski told the Bee that when he watched the video, all he thought of was Renee Good, the woman killed by ICE in Minneapolis while driving away in her car.
"What I see is Carlos rapidly backing away from the officers," Kolasinski told the Bee. "And it reminds me, actually, of Renée Good, which is crazy. But he backs away from the officers. There’s no officer behind him. As he backs up, his passenger door swings open and gets stuck on the officer, on the officer’s car. The officers then step in front of him, into the side of the vehicle."
Kolasinski continued: "He turns his wheels very, very hard to the left and moves in a way that moves the front of the car away from the officers, avoiding them to try to get away. As I’m watching that video, he took great pains to not hit the officers while they were shooting at him."
On a GoFundMe that Kolasinksi set up, he said that Hernandez tried to flee "in a moment of fear."