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A federal judge has dismissed an indictment against a Los Angeles TikTok streamer who was shot by an officer during an immigration enforcement operation and accused of assault against a federal agent, citing constitutional violations.
Carlitos Ricardo Parias, a TikTok creator who streams local breaking news, was accused in October of ramming his car into immigration agents’ vehicles after they surrounded him during an operation. Body-worn camera footage obtained by the Los Angeles Times shows that an agent fired his gun during the incident, shooting Parias in the elbow. A ricochet bullet also hit a deputy US marshal in the hand.
He was indicted by a grand jury and scheduled to go on trial on Tuesday.
But on Saturday, US district judge Fernando Olguin ordered the indictment dismissed, saying that the government deprived Parias of his rights when it decided to detain him at the Adelanto ICE processing center – an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center about 90 miles (145km) east of Los Angeles – immediately after he was ordered released from jail on bond. Olguin also said that once at Adelanto, Parias’ defense team were unable to schedule any legal visits.
“The obstacles and roadblocks that ICE has put in place at Adelanto make it difficult, if not impossible, for defendant to meet with his attorneys, and have caused defendant to suffer demonstrable prejudice or a substantial threat thereof,” the judge said.
He also cited in his order the government’s failure to comply with various deadlines in the discovery process, including its failure to release body-worn camera footage that captured the shooting by deadline.
The government had charged Parias with assault, saying that he used his car as a “weapon” to ram against two law enforcement vehicles. But in video footage leading up to Parias’ shooting, reviewed by the LA Times, Parias’ car did not appear to be moving. The footage shows him asking officers why he is being detained, and an officer threatening to shoot Parias if he doesn’t get out.
The US Department of Justice did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment on the dismissal of Parias’ indictment. The indictment was dismissed with prejudice, which means prosecutors cannot refile the same charges of assault against Parias.
“While we remain quite confident that a jury would readily acquit Mr Parias, the government prejudiced his right to a fair and speedy trial by denying him meaningful access to his defense team and failing to timely disclose the evidence they claimed supported the charges,” said federal public defender Cuauhtemoc Ortega and deputy federal public defender Gabriela Rivera, who litigated the case for Parias. “We are grateful that Mr Parias’s constitutional rights were vindicated.”
Though his indictment has been dismissed, Parias, who the government says is a Mexican national living in the US without legal status, could remain in ICE detention while his immigration case proceeds.
After the justice department charged dozens of people with “assaulting” and “impeding” federal officers and other crimes during the protests in Los Angeles over immigration raids, a Guardian investigation found that prosecutors were forced to dismiss several of those cases. Many of them lied on officers’ inaccurate reports, the Guardian found.
