Federal authorities were captured on video Wednesday apparently putting a man in a chokehold on the city’s West Side, according to footage of the incident reviewed by the Tribune.
Per Chicago police, federal authorities briefly detained a person after a car accident in the East Garfield Park neighborhood Wednesday afternoon. Footage of the detainment, which was first reported by The Triibe, shows a federal agent holding a man, who is Black, by the neck.
A person at the scene is heard on video asking the agent why he was “choking” the man. In another video shared with the Tribune, federal authorities are seen directing traffic around the incident.
Police on Wednesday evening confirmed the detainment but referred to “the federal agency in question” when asked about the reports of the alleged choked motorist, noting “we do not comment on another (agency’s) behalf.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not return requests for comment.
The incident took place near the West Side office of the Chicago nonprofit Equity and Transformation (EAT), which is located in the same building of the Westside Justice Center at 601 S. California Ave., according to Nicole Laport, EAT director of communications.
A coalition of 40 Black-led community organizations and legal groups — including Equity and Transformation — called the incident in a news release Thursday “a clear example of the threats we are facing and a reminder that all of our communities are at risk.”
Gov. JB Pritzker announced this week that federal officials are seeking to deploy troops to Illinois in support of President Donald Trump’s surge in immigration enforcement. A day later, the president told top military brass that American cities run by Democrats should serve as “training grounds” for troops.
“(The federal administration is) now waging war on our communities on multiple fronts,” Itohan Osaigbovo of the Chicago Black Voter Project said in a statement. “What we need is not federal agents harassing, assaulting and detaining our people in their own communities, but the kind of investment that is instead being threatened.”
An unknown driver operating a white sedan was traveling eastbound on Congress Parkway when they struck a 49-year-old woman driving a black sedan headed north on California Avenue, Chicago police said.
Police responded to the scene on the 2800 block of Congress at about 2:36 p.m. The woman was transported in good condition to Mount Sinai Hospital for injuries to her shoulder, neck and hip, while the other driver fled, police said. No citations were issued.
While on the scene, Chicago police supervisors were notified that federal authorities detained a person possibly connected to the car accident, authorities said. The detained person was later released at the scene, according to police.
In an emailed statement, a police spokesperson wrote that, “In accordance with the City of Chicago’s Municipal Code and Welcoming City Ordinance, at no point did CPD coordinate or assist federal authorities with immigration enforcement.”
