Federal officials announced assault charges Thursday against a man who allegedly used a truck loaded with heavy equipment to ram into federal agent’s vehicles during an immigration arrest in Dallas last month.
Jerson Lopez-Sanchez, 28, was charged with three counts of assaulting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, according to a grand jury indictment filed in the U.S. Eastern District of Texas. He is not currently in custody and has yet to turn himself in, the indictment said.
Jay Combs, the U.S. Attorney for the district, told reporters that the ICE agents were clearly identified as law enforcement at the time of the incident.
“When someone runs down an ICE officer — or any federal or local law enforcement officer — those deadly weapons act as battering rams,” Combs said. “It is a violent attack and it will not be tolerated.”
Lopez-Sanchez did not have any known criminal background or active warrants known to officials as of Thursday, Combs said.
The charges stem from a Dec. 1 incident in which ICE agents on patrol were asked do a “routine check” on a Chevrolet Silverado, the indictment said. Officials said five people were in the truck but Lopez-Sanchez was the owner and driver of the Silverado.
Agents realized through a check of the ICE “internal systems” that Lopez-Sanchez was a foreign national with no legal entries or applications for lawful status, the indictment continued.
Three ICE vehicles engaged in a traffic stop of the Silverado, including a Jeep at the rear of the vehicle and a Chrysler van in front of the truck. Lopez-Sanchez allegedly reversed the Silverado and rammed into the Jeep in order to make room to flee.
An ICE agent had one leg outside of the Jeep and quickly had to jump back into the car, officials said. Lopez-Sanchez’s truck was filled with equipment and weighed approximately 5,500-pounds at the time, the indictment said.
Agents pursued Lopez-Sanchez after he rammed the Jeep, including agents in the Chrysler van who attempted to position their vehicle to block Lopez-Sanchez, according to the indictment.
“Jerson Lopez-Sanchez made no attempts to apply the brakes to his vehicle as he approached the two ICE agents in the Chrysler van and crossed over opposite lanes of traffic,” the indictment said.
The Silverado accelerated into the agents’ van, causing “significant damage” documented in photographs included in the indictment. The photos show the front of the van smashed in to the point where the hood is bent and smoke appeared to be coming from the engine block.
“The ramming was so violent that it deployed all the airbags in the vehicle,” Combs said. “911 was called to assist the passenger in that vehicle, an ICE agent.”
Officials declined to detail the injuries to agents in the incident, though the indictment describes the passenger as having injuries to his back and neck.
A third ICE vehicle followed the Silverado for about 10 minutes before Lopez-Sanchez stopped his truck on a median, Combs said. Three of the people inside the Silverado were detained but Lopez-Sanchez and one other fled on foot, according to Combs.
The FBI is offering an award up to $15,000 for tips that lead to the arrest of Lopez-Sanchez.
Lopez-Sanchez is described by officials as a man from Honduras who is 5-feet and 8-inches tall, weighing 165-pounds with black hair and brown eyes.
