Court Filing Disputes ICE Account of NY Shooting

Lawyers for Oscar Belgal say an immigration officer smashed his car window and fired several shots without identifying himself, according to a petition filed Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court. Belgal was driving with his young son when a bullet struck him in the neck. The account conflicts with statements from Department of Homeland Security officials, who say officers opened fire because they believed their lives were in danger.

What the Petition Says

The Legal Aid Society filed the petition seeking Belgal’s release. It says he 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 the people who approached the car as masked men with guns.

“An anonymous, masked man” ran toward the vehicle with his gun drawn, the lawyers wrote. They said the men “did not identify themselves, show any documents or otherwise communicate with Oscar in any substantive way.” According to the petition, the first man hit the driver’s-side window with his gun, then fired into the car while Belgal’s son sat in the back seat. A bullet struck Belgal in the neck. He began bleeding immediately.

The lawyers say Belgal didn’t learn the men were ICE officers until he woke later in the hospital. He remains detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, they say, and hasn’t had surgery to remove the bullet lodged in his neck. They also report he has lost sensation on the left side of his face and has impaired hearing. The Federal Bureau of Prisons, which manages the jail, didn’t immediately comment.

“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,” said Perry McAninch and Elyssa Williams, the lawyers representing Belgal.

Footage and Conflicting Accounts

New York City police security-camera footage released last week captures part of the encounter, but doesn’t conclusively establish how the shooting happened. In the footage, a man in a sweatshirt and red hat runs toward Belgal’s car with his gun pointed at him. He strikes the driver’s-side window with the gun barrel; it shatters on the second blow.

A second officer appears beside the car and draws his gun. Belgal pulls into the street, away from the officers. The car leaves the camera’s view as the officer in the red hat chases it. The NYPD cameras don’t record what happens next. Moments later, the chase ends with Belgal’s damaged car against a concrete barrier. Bullet holes mark its windshield and a rear window.

Bystander video and NYPD body-camera footage show ICE officers handcuffing Belgal and tending to his neck wound as he sits on the pavement outside the car. NYPD officers take him to a nearby hospital.

DHS didn’t comment Wednesday on the lawyers’ claims, saying the incident remains under investigation. Officials say officers fired only after Belgal smashed his car into two government vehicles and “accelerated toward other officers.”

At a news conference last week, Marcos Charles, the head of ICE's enforcement and removal operations, said Belgal refused orders to leave his vehicle, then accelerated and smashed into two government vehicles as ICE officers tried to block 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. The court petition and officials’ account describe sharply different versions of the encounter. The released NYPD footage captures only part of it.