A Venezuelan man in the United States illegally was tackled at a New Hampshire courthouse by federal agents earlier this year after he fled from their attempt to detain him quietly in an elevator.
Arnuel Marquez Colmenarez, 33, was taken into custody while he was heading to a court arraignment on charges for drunken driving, driving without a license and failing to provide information after an accident, according to The Associated Press via the Nashua Police Department.
Video from Feb. 20 that was released by the Nashua Circuit Court on Monday showed Colmenarez going through security at the courthouse and getting into an elevator with the federal agents and a few other people.
As others left the elevator, an agent can be seen touching Colmenarez lightly on the shoulder, then talking to him. The video does not include audio, but Colmenarez can be seen running out of the elevator after a few seconds.
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Two agents chased him out of the elevator and threw him to the ground a few feet away, knocking down an older man who was walking with a cane in the process.
Court liaison officer for the Hudson Police Department, Jared Neff, said he was in the prosecutor’s office when he heard something going on near the elevators and decided to go check it out.
“There were voices yelling ‘Stop!’ and then a loud ‘bang’ which sounded like people had fallen on the ground and were actively fighting and struggling,” he wrote in an incident report, according to The AP.
Neff helped the agents restrain Colmenarez, who could be seen in the video resisting attempts to be handcuffed.
The older man who was knocked down remained lying on his back during the apprehension, and it took a minute or so for him to receive help, the video showed. It’s unclear if he was injured.
The agents allegedly told Neff they had been ordered to detain illegal immigrants, and had tried to do so quietly in the elevator.
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A bench warrant was issued for Colmenarez since he failed to show up for arraignment and the prosecutor over the case was not contacted by federal agents beforehand nor was aware of his arrest, according to The AP.
Colmenarez is being held at an ICE facility in Texas as of Monday, The AP reported after viewing an online database.
His arrest at the courthouse comes after President Donald Trump repealed a 2011 policy that had federal agents typically avoid making arrests at courthouses, schools, places of worship and hospitals.
Current policy allows for immigration arrests “in or near courthouses when they have credible information that leads them to believe the targeted alien(s) is or will be present,” as long as state and local law doesn’t prohibit it.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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