Man appears to have a seizure as ICE arrests his wife, but officials disagree

FITCHBURG, Mass. — A Massachusetts man seen on video having an apparent seizure during a struggle with immigration agents while holding his crying wife and child says he lost consciousness after the agents pushed, punched and pressed him on his neck.

Department of Homeland Security officials accused him of faking a medical emergency to prevent agents from arresting his wife, who was wanted for allegedly stabbing a co-worker with scissors.

“I wasn’t letting go of my wife because they wanted to take her,” Carlos Zapata, 24, told the Boston Globe in Spanish. He spoke to the newspaper Friday, a day after his wife was arrested during a chaotic traffic stop.

Bystanders shouted and recorded the confrontation as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents surrounded the family’s car Thursday morning in Fitchburg, a city about 40 miles (65 kilometers) northwest of Boston. Officers were searching for Juliana Milena Ojeda-Montoya, who was inside the vehicle with her husband and 1.5-year-old daughter, according to a Homeland Security news release.

A widely circulated video shows Zapata behind the wheel, his body shaking and the whites of his eyes visible as masked officers enter the car.

“He’s having a seizure!” » we hear passers-by shouting.

Zapata told the newspaper that officers pushed him and his wife with the child between them, and that he passed out after officers put pressure on his neck.

“I had seizures or something. I don’t know what they did to me,” he said. When he regained consciousness, he said, officers were handcuffing him.

Zapata said he and his wife were originally from Ecuador and entered the country illegally several years ago. They have since applied for asylum in an ongoing case and are allowed to work, he said. He was driving his wife to her job at Burger King when they were arrested, he said.

Homeland Security responded to the video Friday, saying, “Imagine faking a seizure to help a criminal escape justice,” in a social media post.

“Medical staff determined that there was no legitimate medical emergency,” Tricia McLaughlin, the department’s deputy secretary, said in a news release. “He was even caught on camera standing and coherent moments later.”

The department said officers were conducting a targeted operation to arrest Ojeda-Montoya for the scissoring allegations and for throwing a trash can at his co-worker in August. She was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, the Globe reported.

Ojeda-Montoya was in custody awaiting deportation proceedings, according to Homeland Security.