Gun Drawn on Dog Walker as North Hollywood ICE Arrest Turns Violent on Video
Shortly before 8:30 a.m. on Friday morning, near the intersection of Vineland Place and Otsego Street in North Hollywood, two masked men tackled a pedestrian on the sidewalk outside the Ivy at NOHO apartments on Otsego Street. A resident, Damari Butler, watching from his balcony, said he saw the takedown unfold. Video of the encounter shows the handcuffed man crying out in pain as three agents lift him by his arms and legs and drag him toward a vehicle, eventually placing him in the back of an SUV.
A bystander walking two dogs was passing by and spoke with the arresting officers. When he spotted a canister on the sidewalk apparently dropped by one of the agents, he picked it up, asked whether it belonged to the detained man, and tossed it into the street, saying he had thought it was his. Witnesses and video accounts agree the bystander appeared unarmed. Moments after he threw the canister, agents rushed toward him.
One masked person in tactical gear marked "ICE Police" across the chest ran up, told the man with the dogs to back up, and aimed what witnesses described as pepper spray at him. Another masked agent shoved the dog walker into roadside bushes and drew a handgun, holding it inches from his face. The bystander was not detained or taken into custody. A neighbor, Nancy, who was outside with her child, said she was frightened for the man being dragged and for herself and her son, and no longer felt safe walking outside her own apartment building.
As the video spread online, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the images and reports alarming, saying the tactics intimidate communities and put them at risk. In a Friday night statement she called the conduct unacceptable and said it would not be tolerated in Los Angeles. She said she was engaging the California Attorney General's Office to investigate and prosecute any wrongdoing by the federal agents, and had referred the matter to the office of U.S. Representative Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat overseeing federal immigration enforcement abuses. Another local official said the operation violated the rights and safety of San Fernando Valley residents.
NBC Los Angeles said it contacted the Department of Homeland Security about the Otsego Street incident and had received no immediate response. Authorities have not identified the arrested man, explained the basis for the arrest, or said why a gun and spray were used against a bystander who was never taken into custody. The confrontation comes as a federal judge has ordered immigration agents to stop racial profiling in Southern California, and the footage has renewed scrutiny of masked street operations, the seizure of pedestrians, and weapons pointed at onlookers.