Women Arrested by ICE Say They Treated Agent Who Had a Seizure

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Two women said that while under arrest, they treated an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who was having a seizure.

They were released after being detained at an ICE facility, and were allegedly told by a federal officer that they were required to tell others they were treated well.

On Friday, The Minnesota Star Tribune reported the accounts of Tippy Amundson, 39, and Heather Zemien, 55. The women said that while handcuffed in the back of an ICE SUV on Thursday in Brooklyn Park, one of the agents in the vehicle began having a seizure while stopped at a red light.

“To us, it was obvious,” Amundson told the Star Tribune. “It wasn’t obvious to them.” The two detainees said they repeatedly told the driver to pull over and call 9-1-1:

The SUV lurched over a curb and came to rest at an angle on the sidewalk near Welcome Avenue, just off a busy stretch by an Aldi. Amundson could hear the agent’s tongue and fluids blocking his airway. She asked to be uncuffed.

“He’s going to stop breathing,” she told them.

Amundson, a kindergarten teacher who has received CPR and first-aid training through school emergency planning, moved without hesitation once the cuffs came off. The agents stepped out of the vehicle, leaving the driver’s door open, the engine running and the keys inside. Weapons were still in reach.

Amundson ran around the car and knelt beside the agent, trying to turn him onto his side. She spoke to him calmly, telling him he was safe and that help was coming. She said she was aware that people having seizures can often hear what’s being said around them.

When he began to lose consciousness, she moved his gun from its holster so she could position him properly. She cradled his head as another seizure came.

Zemien, a personal care attendant, grabbed one of the agents’ tactical vests from the ground, rolled it up and slid it under his head to keep his airway open. She told the agents to shut the car doors so he wouldn’t lose body heat.

“He had two more seizures after that,” Zemien said. “We had to tell them every step of the way what to do.”

By the time emergency medical responders arrived, the women had been holding the agent steady for several minutes. They were detained but acting as first responders to the man who had detained them.

After the agent was transferred to receive professional medical attention, Amundson and Zemien said they were put into another vehicle and driven to the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis.

“I asked if we could just go home,” Amundson said. “I said, ‘We just saved his life. Is that cool with you?’ And they said no.”

While on the way to Whipple, agents allowed Zemien to make one call, which she used to phone her attorney. During their arrest, Amundson managed to text her husband what was happening via her phone’s voice command feature. Amundson’s husband contacted their state representative.

While at Whipple, a commanding officer informed them of their release.

“We’re releasing you to your counsel and to your state representative,” the officer stated, according to Amundson. “But you need to tell everybody that we treated you kindly.”

The two women were released to their representative, who had driven to the detention facility.

Amundson and Zemien told the Star Tribune that they had been advised by counsel not to discuss why they were arrested.

ICE and Border Patrol agents have swarmed the Twin Cities area in recent weeks as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants and protesters, which reached a fever pitch when ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good this month.

On Tuesday, ICE detained a five-year-old boy and his father after driving home from the child’s school in Columbia Heights, Minnesota.

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