Arlington police have opened an investigation into an immigration arrest on Columbia Pike that reportedly left a man with serious injuries.
Detectives met with the man, José Mejía Hernandez, last week, NBC4 reported. This prompted a swift response from Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner and Reps. Don Beyer, Suhas Subramanyam and James Walkinshaw today (Friday).
“We strongly support the Arlington County Police Department’s decision to open this investigation, which is essential to establishing how José Mejía Hernandez suffered serious injuries,” the Democratic members of Congress wrote. “These included internal bleeding and a brain injury after an encounter with ICE agents.”
ACPD confirmed to ARLnow that Mejía Hernandez filed a police report the same day he and his counsel addressed protesters outside the Arlington County Courthouse last Friday.
“The investigation into the circumstances of the incident is ongoing,” police spokesperson Ashley Savage told ARLnow.
Mejía Hernandez has alleged that he was injured after masked ICE officers approached him without warning while he was walking to the bus on the morning of Aug. 11. He says that he fled and they shot him from behind with a Taser in a parking lot in an apartment complex at Columbia Pike and S. Courthouse Road.
Mejía Hernandez, a Mexican immigrant, has said that he has a gap in his memory between getting hit with a stun gun and waking up in a hospital bed. He says that he lost consciousness, although bystander video of the incident shows him sitting upright and ultimately standing up, surrounded by ICE agents.
In the days after the incident, Mejía Hernandez was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury resulting in brain swelling and a brain bleed, according to his attorneys.
“It is unfortunate that the Trump Administration has abandoned its responsibilities to hold federal agents under their command accountable, leaving state and local jurisdictions to do the job the Administration refuses to do to maintain law and order and protect the public,” members of Congress wrote in today’s letter.
“That failure is fueling a pattern of unchecked violence, rights violations, and chaos, in some cases with deadly consequences,” they continued. “If this investigation finds that ICE agents’ misconduct caused Mr. Mejía Hernandez’ injuries or impeded his medical treatment, they must face consequences.”
The Department of Homeland Security told HuffPost that Mejía Hernandez is undocumented and that he “attempted to flee from the scene, requiring ICE to use necessary force to gain control of the situation.”
Mejía Hernandez’s police report alleges aggravated malicious wounding, malicious wounding, failure of a driver in an accident to stop, reckless driving and assault and battery, Savage said.
In a letter to ACPD, Mejía Hernandez’s attorneys alleged that witnesses reported him being struck by an officer’s vehicle while he was on foot. However, available videos only show the aftermath of whatever happened.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti has called for “a complete and impartial review of the facts” in the case.
“Allegations of significant harm must be examined carefully, transparently, and without regard to an individual’s position or authority,” Dehghani-Tafti said in a statement last week. “No one is above the law, and I will do my part to ensure that in my community.”
