Five days after an ICE agent fatally shot activist Renee Good, federal immigration agents in Minneapolis surrounded and questioned a U.S. citizen named Christian Molina, whose car they had stopped. When residents poured out of their homes to watch, someone threw a snowball — and federal agents responded with tear gas, pepper spray, and impact munitions, according to a joint investigation by ProPublica and FRONTLINE.
Molina told ProPublica reporter A.C. Thompson that the agents had followed him and rammed his car: “They looked at me and they decided to pull me over for no reason.”
After the snowball was thrown, an agent tossed a tear gas canister into the crowd. As the toxic haze rose, another agent pepper-sprayed protesters and a news photographer at close range, while a third fired pepper balls into the crowd — hitting Thompson three times, including once above the right eye. Federal use of force guidelines generally instruct agents not to target people’s heads and faces with these weapons.
As the agents drove away, one shot pepper spray from a car window, striking FRONTLINE director Gabrielle Schonder and director of photography Tim Grucza in the face.
The commander overseeing the operations, Greg Bovino, then-commander-at-large for Border Patrol, was unapologetic. “We’re here to conduct that Title 8 mission,” he told a local TV station. “It won’t stop despite rioters, agitators, and vast amounts of violence against federal officers. We’re not going to stop.”
Former law enforcement officials who reviewed the footage were less measured. “We see, just, use of excessive force after use of excess force,” said Christy Lopez, who spent years investigating law enforcement misconduct for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “In no scenario is it OK to be pepper-spraying people as you’re leaving the scene.”
Chris Magnus, a former head of Customs and Border Protection who once oversaw Bovino, invoked the principle of proportionality: “People may well get under your skin under a lot of circumstances. You don’t like it, but professionals don’t react to it.”
The investigation found that legal cases against many protesters have been falling apart, with accusations contradicted by video evidence and witness testimony. Bovino was eventually moved out of his role after federal agents killed a second Minneapolis protester, Alex Pretti. He has since retired.
“Even if Gregory Bovino is gone, I wonder if his imprint will last through all the federal agencies that are continuing to go out on the street,” said journalist Sergio Olmos. “I wonder if anything will change, really.”
Source: ProPublica
