A masked man who never identified himself smashed Oscar Belgal’s car window and fired inside while Belgal’s five-year-old son cowered in the back seat. That’s the account Belgal’s lawyers gave in a court filing Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court. Belgal, a New York man wounded by an immigration officer, is seeking release.
The Legal Aid Society filed the petition. It sharply contradicts the Department of Homeland Security’s account and raises hard questions about federal immigration agents’ use of deadly force on a city street in front of a child.
What the Petition Says
According to the filing, Belgal picked up his son from school on Oct. 8 and stopped in front of a fire hydrant while looking for a parking spot. His lawyers said “an anonymous, masked man” 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. “Instead, without identifying himself, the first man struck and shattered Oscar’s window and began firing a pistol into Oscar’s car while his son cowered in the back seat. One of those bullets struck Oscar in the neck and he immediately began to bleed.”
Belgal didn’t learn the men were ICE officers until he woke up later in the hospital, his lawyers said.
What the Footage Shows
New York City police security-camera footage, which the department released last week, shows part of the encounter. It doesn’t settle the dispute. A man wearing a sweatshirt and red hat runs up to the car with his gun pointed at Belgal, then strikes the driver’s-side window with the gun barrel. The glass shatters on the second blow. A second officer appears beside the car and draws his gun.
Belgal pulls into the street, away from the two officers. The car disappears from view as the officer in the red hat pursues it. NYPD cameras don’t show 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 neck wound as he sat on the pavement outside the car. NYPD officers took him to a nearby hospital.
The Government’s Account
DHS didn’t comment Wednesday on the lawyers’ claims, saying the incident remains under investigation. Officials have maintained that ICE officers fired because they believed their lives were in danger. They say officers opened fire only after Belgal smashed his car into two government vehicles and “accelerated toward other officers.”
At a news conference last week, Marcos Charles, head of ICE’s enforcement and removal operations, said Belgal refused orders to leave his vehicle. Charles said Belgal then accelerated and hit two government vehicles as officers tried to block him from driving away. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has maintained that officers didn’t know a child was in the car, and he blamed Belgal for putting his son’s life in danger.
Detained, Wounded, Untreated
The petition describes a man still suffering from the shooting. Belgal remains detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, his lawyers said, and he 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.
“Mr. Belgal’s detention was unlawful from its inception,” said Perry McAninch and Elyssa Williams, the lawyers representing him. “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.”
The Federal Bureau of Prisons, which manages the jail, didn’t immediately comment.
Why This Matters: The competing accounts aren’t a minor factual quibble. One describes armed, masked agents who never identified themselves and opened fire into a car carrying a five-year-old. The other describes officers who believed their lives were at risk. The police footage released so far doesn’t resolve the dispute. Independent, transparent review matters.
A man with a bullet still in his neck, partial facial numbness and impaired hearing remains in custody, and his lawyers say he hasn’t had the surgery he needs. When federal agents use deadly force on a public street, the public has a stake in knowing whether they identified themselves, whether they followed rules, and who answers if they didn’t. DHS says the investigation is ongoing. Belgal’s lawyers are asking a federal judge to scrutinize whether his detention was lawful at all.
- oscar belgal
- ice officers
- new york city
- department of homeland security
- legal aid society
- shooting incident
- immigration enforcement
- metropolitan detention center