Federal prosecutors allege that a man hit a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicle in Gary while trying to evade an immigration arrest Oct. 13 after dropping his child at school.
Charges were unsealed Thursday for Rosario Carrillo Lopez.
He was charged in the U.S. District Court in Northern Indiana with forcibly assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding or interfering with an officer or employee of the United States while engaged in or on account of performance of official duties.
The lengthy charge accuses him of assaulting officers with a “deadly weapon” – his SUV.
His lawyer Roxanne Mendez Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Documents state he could face up to 20 years in prison.
Gary Police notified ICE on a previous date when he showed officers his Mexican Consulate identification card, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Steven Moran wrote.
When U.S. Homeland Security agents ran his information, they discovered he was in the U.S. illegally and had been arrested in the past for a “narcotics offense.” Formal charges could not be immediately found in Lake County.
ICE agents staked out the listed Gary address on the ID and followed the SUV when Carrillo Lopez appeared to take the child to school. All had body armor labeled “Police.” At least one also wore an “ICE badge patch.”
They pulled him over on Clark Road, between 5th and 6th avenues, records show. One agent said he was from “Homeland Security.” Carrillo Lopez asked in English the reason for the traffic stop. He declined to turn the vehicle off. At least two agents were on each side of the SUV.
When one tried to reach into a half-open window to unlock the driver’s door, Carrillo Lopez took off over a curb, leading them on a high-speed chase for two blocks before they cut him off near the Willows apartments entrance.
There, Carrillo Lopez forcibly side-swiped one government vehicle to escape, filings show. He cracked and scraped the side passenger bumper while damaging the wheel well, documents state.
Immigration agents called Gary Police to report the accident.
The Post-Tribune previously reported ICE agents said a man hit their vehicle on the 300 block of Clark Road on Oct. 13.
Gary Police Cmdr. Tom Pawlak said ICE agents had targeted the individual and attempted to stop his car about 9 a.m. When agents approached the vehicle, they asked the driver to step out of the car.
Pawlak said the man put the car in gear and rammed one of the ICE vehicles, drove over the curb and fled.
Pawlak said the incident took place about three blocks south of the Gary Lighthouse Charter High School, 725 Clark Road on the city’s west side.
Pawlak said Gary police were not involved in the attempted arrest but did take an accident report filed by ICE agents at the police station.
mcolias@post-trib.com
