ICE Violently Detains Disabled US Citizen Walking to High School in California: Wrist Broken, Surgery Needed, Investigation Demanded

The violent detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of a disabled US citizen student as he walked to his high school has sparked outrage in California, where leaders are condemning the incident as racial profiling and calling for an investigation.

Erik Zepeda, a 20-year-old high school student, was stopped last month in the small agricultural city of Santa Maria, famed for its strawberry harvest, where 79% of residents are Latino. His wrist was broken and later required surgery.

Zepeda, who has disabilities that affect his physical reflexes and ability to communicate verbally, said in writing that he was 'walking to school the same way I do every day' when ICE agents 'tackled me and handcuffed me (and) hurt me'.

Zepeda said: 'I thought they were going to kill me. I did not do anything wrong, and they should never have done that. I don't want this to happen to anyone else.'

An ICE-watch observer who witnessed the incident on October 21 said masked ICE agents approached Zepeda from behind, pinned him face-down on the ground and put him in a car. The agents then drove the student around for a while before letting him out. With a black eye and his wrist in severe pain, Zepeda walked the remaining half mile to his school, where staff called an ambulance.

The observer, who volunteers with a local rapid response network to document ICE activity, asked not to be named due to fears of retaliation from federal officials. The report said dashcam and phone videos the observer recorded of the incident were reviewed to independently verify the account.

Adam Schiff, a Democratic US senator from California, said in a statement: 'ICE's assault and wrongful detainment of Erik Zepeda was grotesque and heartbreaking. There must be accountability for what happened to Erik.'

Democratic representative Salud Carbajal, whose central coast district includes Santa Maria, said during a press conference that he was 'outraged' by the incident, calling the ICE agents' conduct 'thuggish' and racial profiling 'rampant'. In an October 29 letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE, Carbajal called for 'a full, transparent investigation' into Zepeda's detention.

Santa Maria police chief Christopher Williams said an investigation into the incident was 'ongoing' and confirmed that he reported the incident to the county district attorney, the California department of justice, and DHS. In a statement, Santa Barbara county district attorney John Savrnoch called the incident 'deeply troubling'. He said his office was 'coordinating with the appropriate authorities to gather information and determine the appropriate next steps'.

JP Cooney and Molly Gaston, former federal prosecutors who are now senior attorneys at legal nonprofit Democracy Forward, are representing Zepeda. They said they 'look forward to vindicating Mr Zepeda's rights in court'. Cooney and Gaston said Zepeda's hospital discharge records confirmed that he received surgery for his fractured wrist after the incident. They said: 'ICE agents illegally assaulted Mr Zepeda and then issued a false public statement to cover it up.'

In response, an ICE spokesperson said its officers were conducting 'a targeted enforcement operation' when they encountered Zepeda, who 'they believed matched the description of the criminal illegal alien target', and that their use of force was justified. The spokesperson said: 'When the individual resisted officers, refused lawful commands, and assumed a fighting stance with clenched fists, they relied on their training to safely control the situation until they could confirm his identity, whereupon he was released.' The spokesperson also said: 'Claims that the individual suffered broken bones are FALSE. He never requested medical assistance.'

The report said the incident comes amid a surge of ICE activity in California that started in early October and has led to multiple hospitalisations. Days earlier, agents broke the arm of Ricardo Gonzalez, also a US citizen, in Long Beach. In videos, Gonzalez appears face-down in a gutter crying out for help while officers kneel on his back. In the Bay Area, two separate ICE arrests also led to hospitalisations, sparking anti-ICE protests outside an Oakland hospital.

Glenn Goldin, a retired special education teacher who formerly taught Zepeda and remains a close mentor to him, described Zepeda, who lives in a group home for adults with disabilities, as quiet, sensitive and a caring housemate, who loves the Golden State Warriors and likes to spend time scrolling TikTok. Goldin said that after Zepeda's terrifying encounter with ICE, he remains shaken and doesn't plan to return to school for at least several weeks. Goldin said Zepeda had worked up the courage to begin walking to school by himself last year. He said: 'He's felt very proud of himself, you know, he's independent. I feel like they took that away from him.'