Kristi Noem painted the Venezuelan man as an attempted murderer, but new evidence is "materially inconsistent" with the allegations.
Pocharapon Neammanee at HuffPost:
Federal authorities have opened an investigation into two ICE officers and whether they lied in sworn statements after the Department of Justice dropped charges against a Venezuelan man who was shot during an operation. [...] The Venezuelan man, Julio Sosa-Celis, was charged with assaulting a federal officer last month. At the time, the Department of Homeland Security claimed an ICE officer targeted him in a traffic stop in Minneapolis, and that Sosa-Celis sped away and crashed his car before beginning to “resist and violently assault the officer” trying to apprehend him. “Sosa-Celis got loose and began striking the officer with a shovel or broom stick,” the department alleged in a statement. “Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life. Sosa-Celis was hit in the leg.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called the incident “an attempted murder of federal law enforcement.” However, a motion to dismiss filed Thursday by U.S. Attorney in Minnesota Daniel Rosen, said “newly discovered evidence in this matter is materially inconsistent” with the allegations against Sosa-Celis and another defendant, Alfredo Aljorna. According to the AP, Lyons said video evidence revealed “sworn testimony provided by two separate officers” appears to have included “untruthful statements” about the incident. The judge granted the prosecution’s motion on Friday, and the case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be reintroduced.
Despite DHS’ account of the incident, an FBI affidavit claimed ICE officers actually scanned a license plate registered to a different person suspected of an immigration violation, and the person driving at the time was not Sosa-Celis. He was instead at an apartment building where the driver fled after crashing the car.
Julio Sosa-Celis, who was shot by ICE, has his charges dropped. The officers involved in the shooting of Sosa-Celis, however, will face a federal probe.
