Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez pleaded not guilty in federal court on Monday to charges stemming from a shooting during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest in central California earlier this month.
Prosecutors said a federal grand jury indicted Mendoza Hernandez on two counts of assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon and one count of damaging government property. They described the case as involving an arrest in which Mendoza was shot multiple times by ICE agents and where officials alleged he rammed his vehicle into two agents.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Mendoza Hernandez has requested a jury trial, and it set a status conference for July 27. Mendoza is recovering after several surgeries for multiple gunshot wounds, including a wound to the jaw, his attorney said.
In court, Mendoza’s lawyers denied the federal allegations about intent, according to his attorney. Patrick Kolasinski said Mendoza panicked and tried to flee after ICE agents blocked his car and that Mendoza did not intend to run over anyone.
Kolasinski also disputed officials’ claims that Mendoza was a suspected gang member wanted in El Salvador for questioning connected to a murder. Kolasinski said Salvadoran court documents show Mendoza was acquitted of murder in El Salvador, and he said Mendoza has denied ever being in a gang.
The U.S. government’s account describes a different sequence of events. The Department of Homeland Security said ICE officers fired defensive shots after Mendoza tried to drive into them, and it said the officers were conducting an enforcement stop targeting Mendoza on April 7 in Patterson, about 75 miles southeast of San Francisco.
Officials said the arrest was part of a broader push by the Trump administration to detain and deport immigrants in the country illegally. The AP reported that the case is also among shootings involving federal immigration officers in which questions have arisen about the circumstances, including when video evidence has contradicted initial official accounts.
MSI previously reported on this developing chain of charges, including an earlier round of prosecutorial action tied to the same incident here.