Stunning Video Shows Man Detained, Wrestled to Ground by Federal Agents While Crying Out for His Family
A man was detained and wrestled to the ground on Wednesday by local police and federal officers who approached his car outside of the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Reporters from NBC Washington were at the mall covering a different story when they observed two police officers pulling over a driver with an Uber decal on his car. Aimee Cho, one of the reporters who witnessed the event, said that the officers spoke with the man for several minutes before the confrontation escalated.
In the video, the man seemed to attempt to flee before being taken to the ground and pinned by multiple officers. He was held on his stomach for several minutes while pleading with the officers in Spanish.
“Please, I’m not a criminal! I work here! I want to be with my family!” he screamed in Spanish, per NBC Washington’s translation.
The officers — some of whom were wearing masks — wore vests that identified some as police and others as Homeland Security officers.
They placed the man in an unmarked vehicle, refusing to answer nearby reporters’ questions about what crime the man was being charged with.
The video of the detention — which took place in front of the African American History Museum and the Washington Monument — also shows dozens of National Guard troops standing in a cluster, watching the arrest.
Last week, President Donald Trump announced that he would be deploying the National Guard to Washington in an attempt to address crime in the city. National Guard troops from DC itself, as well as five other states, were sent to the Capitol. Trump also named Terry Cole, the head of the Drug and Enforcement Administration, to take control of the city’s Metropolitan Police Department.
These moves came after the assault on Elon Musk protégé and former DOGE employee Edward “Big Balls” Coristine – who was beaten by teenagers after attempting to stop a carjacking in the Capitol earlier this month.
Trump posted a statement to Truth Social after the beating, which concluded with the line: “If this continues, I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this City. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The Attorney General of D.C., Brian Schwalb, sued the president over the administration’s troop deployment, calling the order “unlawful” because it violates D.C.’s Home Rule Act– which allows for deployment only in response to “special conditions of an emergency nature” for up to 30 days.
NBC Washington reached out to both ICE and D.C. police to ask why the man was originally stopped, what he has been charged with, where he was taken, and what will happen to him next. D.C. police have not yet responded. A spokesperson for ICE told the station they are looking into the matter, but have not yet provided any information.
Watch above via NBC Washington.
UPDATE 5:36 p.m. ET — Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed, in a post on X, that the man in the video — whom she did not identify — was in the U.S. illegally and had been arrested in January 2024 in Fairfax County, VA for aggravated sexual assault of a child under 13.
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