Chaotic surveillance footage from inside a federal courthouse showed the moment two ICE agents knocked down an elderly man with a cane as they attempted to arrest a Venezuelan migrant.
Arnuel Marquez Colmenarez, 33, is currently in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Texas, ICE records show, following the incident at the courthouse in Nashua, New Hampshire, in February.
He had been charged on February 9 with drunken driving, driving without a license and failing to provide information after an accident and was heading to his arraignment on those charges when he was apprehended, Nashua Police said.
Footage shows the two ICE agents, along with Marquez Colmenarez and two other men, passing through security and entering an elevator.
After the two other men exit the lift, a man wearing a sweatshirt bearing the letters “ATF” taps Marquez Colmenarez on the shoulder as he also prepares to exit. ATF stands for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Marquez Colmenarez turns to face the man before attempting to quickly leave the elevator, at which point the two agents grab him.
The scuffle spills into the corridor where the elderly man with a cane is walking. One of the agents tackles Marquez Colmenarez, knocking the legs out from underneath the man, who falls to the floor.
Another court officer arrives to help the two ICE agents restrain Marquez Colmenarez, though the elderly man is left in apparent pain.
Jared Neff, the court liaison officer for the Hudson Police Department, said he was in the prosecutor’s office when he heard a loud commotion near the elevators and went out to investigate.
“There were voices yelling ‘Stop!’ and then a loud ‘bang’ which sounded like people had fallen on the ground and were actively fighting and struggling,” he wrote in an incident report.
Neff said he helped restrain Marquez Colmenarez, whom he described as actively resisting attempts to handcuff him. The agents were working on orders to detain immigrants in the country illegally, Neff said. They told Neff they had tried to detain Marquez Colmenarez quietly in the elevator, but he had fled.
A judge later issued a bench warrant after he failed to appear for his arraignment. The prosecutor handling the case wasn’t contacted by federal agents before the arraignment and didn’t witness the arrest, police said.
In a statement shared with Reuters, an ICE spokesperson said the agency is “focusing all its law enforcement personnel on mitigating public safety threats and preserving the integrity of our immigration laws.”
The ATF did not immediately respond to the outlet’s request for comment.
