EAST SIDE — A 15-year-old boy was slammed to the ground by federal agents using force to disperse protesters Tuesday and then “disappeared” to a garage for five hours, according to attorneys hired by his family.
The incident happened in the city’s East Side neighborhood as crowds swelled around the scene of a car crash caused by federal agents, witnesses said. The agents had used a collision maneuver barred by local police to cause a car it was chasing near 105th Street and Avenue N to spin out, leading its occupants to tumble out of the still-moving vehicle and flee on foot.
RELATED: Federal Agents Cause Crash, Tear Gas Protesters On Southeast Side Street
Dozens of armed and camouflaged Customs and Border Patrol agents arrived at the crash scene as protesters and neighbors formed around it, with videos showing an egg hitting an agent’s mask. The agents deployed tear gas — at least the the fourth time they have used tear gas in city neighborhoods this month.
In the commotion the 15-year-old boy, a Black and Hispanic U.S. citizen, was slammed to the ground, kneed in the back and zip-tied by Border Patrol agents, attorneys from the Romanucci and Blandin law firm said in a statement.
The boy was taken to a federal facility and handcuffed inside a car in a garage for five hours, according to the attorneys. He was never booked, read his rights or allowed to contact his mother, who had “no idea where her son was or whether he [was] safe,” according to the attorneys.
“This is not law enforcement; this is the playbook of authoritarian regimes,” attorney Antonio M. Romanucci said in a statement. “The behavior by people who have sworn to serve our communities and country is a painful parallel to the days of the Ku Klux Klan patrolling the streets with their faces covered, terrorizing people of color. The horrific behavior has to stop.”
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Border Patrol agents that have arrived in droves to Chicago to assist in President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement, said in a statement claims that agents disappeared the teen or held him in a garage are “categorically false.”
The Homeland Security spokesperson said the teen hit an agent in the face with an egg.
“The individual was arrested for the assault and taken to the FBI Field Office in Chicago where he freely admitted without questioning to throwing eggs at agents. His attorney met with him at the field office, and he was released without charges,” the unnamed spokesperson said. “Secretary [Kristi] Noem’s message to the rioters is clear: you will not stop us or slow us down.”
Photos of the boy’s arrest taken by the Sun-Times were widely shared online, including by Gov. JB Pritzker.
“Greg Bovino, Kristi Noem, and DHS need to answer for their unchecked attacks on Chicago residents,” Pritzker wrote. “ICE is an out-of-control danger to our peaceful communities.”
At least three people were arrested near the scene of the crash, among at least eight arrests Tuesday as federal agents were spotted around East Side, according to Southeast Side Rapid Response. Agents were seen on video chasing people inside a Walgreens. Thirteen Chicago police officers were among those exposed to tear gas, a department spokesperson said.
Romanucci, an injury attorney with a high profile locally, represented a Park Ridge boy who was pinned to the sidewalk in 2022 by an off-duty Chicago police sergeant, who had accused the boy of stealing a bike. The sergeant was later acquitted of felony charges.
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