Carlos Jimenez, a father of three from Ontario, east of Los Angeles, was on his way to work at a food pantry on 30 October 2025 when he drove by ICE agents carrying out an operation. Around 7am, Jimenez approached officers "calmly and slowly" to tell them children would soon be arriving at an adjacent bus stop, according to his complaint filed in federal court on Friday.
An ICE officer, later identified as Eusebio Ortiz, pointed his firearm at Jimenez's face, cursed at him and threatened to shoot if he did not leave, the complaint says, citing audio from the officer's radio. Jimenez complied and attempted a three-point turn because officers' vehicles blocked him, but, according to the suit, Ortiz fired multiple gunshots into the car, hitting Jimenez in the back and right shoulder. The suit says there was no officer in Jimenez's path when he was shot and no reasonable suspicion to stop, threaten or shoot him.
Afterward, FBI agents followed Jimenez to a hospital and interfered with his medical care, including by pulling a nurse away and preventing him from speaking to medical staff, the suit alleges. The complaint also says agents removed Jimenez from his hospital bed, locked him in a waist restraint and drove him back to the scene for interrogation while a bullet remained lodged in him. As Jimenez bled and vomited in the van, officers told him not to "ruin their vehicle", according to the complaint.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said at the time Jimenez had "attempted to run officers over by reversing directly at them without stopping" and that the officer fired "defensive" shots. DHS has repeatedly accused people of weaponising vehicles against officers, but a Guardian review in July found that most of the vehicle "assault" cases touted by DHS have fallen apart under scrutiny in court.
The Department of Justice charged Jimenez with assault on a federal officer using a deadly or dangerous weapon, with a complaint saying he had "rapidly accelerated in reverse" toward an officer. The lawsuit says the criminal charges were fabricated, noting that even though DHS called the shots defensive, the criminal complaint included no statement from the officer claiming he felt in danger.
The suit further alleges that the FBI falsely claimed two neighbours witnessed the incident and told an agent that Jimenez's vehicle had enough room to pull forward without reversing. When Jimenez's legal team interviewed those witnesses, both denied making those statements and said they had been unaware of the shooting until news reports.
As the case proceeded, Jimenez's defence lawyers sought access to officers' text messages. In May a judge ordered the government to produce records of agents' communications. Prosecutors then agreed to resolve the case through diversion, which would allow charges to be dropped at the end of October if Jimenez abided by certain conditions. The suit alleges prosecutors were trying to avoid the potential disclosure of communications and prevent the deposition of the FBI agent who allegedly fabricated witness statements. The charges were formally dismissed last week.
Ciaran McEvoy, a justice department spokesperson in Los Angeles, did not comment on the lawsuit but said Jimenez "could have exercised his right to take the case to trial, but he instead requested that our office agree to resolve the case through a diversion agreement".
Jimenez's case echoes that of Francisco Longoria, another southern California man shot by ICE last year during a traffic stop who also faced criminal charges that were later dropped. The justice department in LA has prosecuted 113 people for alleged crimes against immigration officers since last spring, but the Guardian found that as of mid-September, 33 of them had charges dismissed and nine had been acquitted by juries.