Overview:
An interaction with officers wearing vests labeled "ICE" ended with a man being pepper sprayed and thrown to the ground, video shows.
An attorney was tackled and pepper sprayed Friday outside the Santa Barbara County Probation Department, while law enforcement officers wearing vests marked “ICE” and “POLICE” took another man into custody, video obtained by the News-Press shows.
A video shared with the News-Press shows Santa Barbara attorney Doug Hayes pepper sprayed and then thrown to the ground outside the Probation Department after he tried to help a man who had been taken into custody.
(Warning: Video contains profanity)
Several community activists posted the incident on social media and identified Hayes.
The News-Press has reached out to Hayes for comment.
The Santa Barbara Police Department said in a news release that it was informed shortly before 11 a.m. Friday that ICE agents were in the 100 block of east Carrillo Street and community members were filming the activities.
During that time, one of the tires of an ICE agent’s vehicle was slashed, and federal agents took a suspect into custody, driving him and the disabled vehicle to the Santa Barbara Police Department, police said in a statement to the media.
Local authorities said they were not notified that federal officers were coming to the Police Department before they arrived.
Police said after the arrival, they created “a safe place” for community members to exercise their First Amendment rights, without interfering with ICE agents, while the suspect was transferred between vehicles.
But emotions ran high among the protesters while officers pinned the man they had in custody to the ground. Another man, identified as Hayes by a separate attorney who had seen the video, can be seen in the video approaching the agents, who quickly fire pepper spray at him.
Both agents, who are seen in the video wearing masks, briefly lunge at Hayes, pushing him back, before one of the officers returns his attention to the suspect lying prone on the ground and the other grabs Hayes, spins him around and throws him down.
“The Santa Barbara Police Department does not engage in immigration enforcement,” the release from the department says. “When federal immigration actions occur in our city, our role is guided by our commitment to safety and respect for all. Santa Barbara Police Officers are committed to professionalism, restraint, and empathy during their response to incidents involving federal agents.”
Authorities said the disabled ICE vehicle was moved temporarily into the Police Department’s parking lot to allow a tow truck to safely retrieve it.
The man who was arrested was transported by ICE to “one of their stations,” police said.
