Federal officers and a Brooklyn man’s lawyers now offer sharply different accounts of an Oct. 8 shooting. A court will have to decide which one holds up. Lawyers for Oscar Belgal, a New York man wounded by an immigration officer while driving with his young son, said in a Wednesday filing that the agent never identified himself before running to the car, smashing a window and firing several shots into the vehicle.
The Legal Aid Society filed its account in Brooklyn federal court in a petition seeking Belgal’s release. It directly contradicts the version from Department of Homeland Security officials.
Two Versions of One Street Encounter
According to the petition, Belgal picked up his son from school on Oct. 8 and stopped in front of a fire hydrant while searching for a parking spot. His lawyers describe “an anonymous, masked man” who rushed toward the vehicle with his gun drawn, followed by other masked men carrying guns. “The men did not identify themselves, show any documents or otherwise communicate with Oscar in any substantive way,” the lawyers wrote. They say the first man struck and shattered the window, then fired a pistol into the car while Belgal’s son cowered in the back seat. One bullet hit Belgal in the neck.
DHS offers a different account. Officials have maintained that ICE officers fired because they believed their lives were in danger, and that they opened fire only after Belgal smashed his car into two government vehicles and “accelerated toward other officers.” Marcos Charles, head of ICE’s enforcement and removal operations, said at a news conference last week that Belgal refused orders to exit his vehicle, then accelerated and hit two government vehicles as officers tried to stop him from driving away. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said officers didn’t know a child was in the car and blamed Belgal for putting his son’s life in danger.
DHS declined to address the lawyers’ claims Wednesday, saying the incident remains under investigation.
What the Footage Shows, and Doesn’t
New York City police security-camera footage released by the department last week captures only part of the encounter. A man in a sweatshirt and red hat runs toward the car with his gun pointed at Belgal, then strikes the driver’s-side window with the barrel. It shatters on the second blow. A second officer enters the frame and draws his gun. Belgal pulls into the street, and the car disappears from camera view as the officer in the red hat pursues it.
The footage doesn’t settle the dispute. NYPD cameras don’t capture what happened next. Moments later, the chase ended with Belgal’s damaged car against a concrete barrier, bullet holes in its windshield and a rear window. Bystander video and NYPD body-camera footage show ICE officers handcuffing Belgal and tending to his wound as he sat on the pavement. NYPD officers took him to a nearby hospital.
Detention and Medical Claims
Belgal’s lawyers say he didn’t learn the men were ICE officers until he woke in the hospital. They said he remains held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn and hasn’t had surgery to remove the bullet lodged in his neck. He has lost sensation on the left side of his face and has impaired hearing, the lawyers said. The Federal Bureau of Prisons, which manages the jail, didn’t immediately comment.
Perry McAninch and Elyssa Williams, the attorneys representing Belgal, put it bluntly: “Mr. Belgal’s detention was unlawful from its inception. ICE officers shot him in the neck in front of his five year-old son, failed to provide him with immediate medical assistance, and now continue to hold him in a facility notorious for medical neglect.”
Those are the lawyers’ characterizations, and they’re advocacy in a court filing. The government hasn’t answered them in detail. With the investigation still open, key facts—including what officers saw and said in the seconds before the shots—remain unestablished.
Why This Matters:
When a federal officer fires a weapon on a city street, the public needs a clear, evidence-based account, and the rule of law demands one for both sides. If officers faced a vehicle driven at them, the law gives them room to defend themselves. If they never identified themselves, that raises serious questions about training, protocol and accountability. The video leaves a gap at exactly the point when decisive moments occurred. Courts, not press conferences or advocacy filings, are the proper place to test competing claims, and the habeas petition will force the government to put its account on the record. Law enforcement agencies depend on public trust, and an unresolved dispute like this one erodes that trust until the facts are established.
- oscar belgal
- ice officers
- new york city
- department of homeland security
- legal aid society
- shooting incident
- immigration enforcement
- metropolitan detention center