Federal prosecutors in Texas announced charges on Tuesday against Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, a Venezuelan delivery drivershot and seriously wounded by an ICE officer in Austin earlier this month. The charges came a day before he was set to appear in court to challenge the legality of his immigration detention.
Garcés Pérez, 28, was charged with one count of assaulting, resisting and impeding a federal officer, according to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Garcés Pérez was wounded by an ICE officer in the upper part of his back on Sept. 20 while he was in his car making DoorDash deliveries. His attorneys say the bullet is still lodged near his spine, causing “grave danger.” A Democratic congressman who visited Garcés last week said he was in a wheelchair, in pain and in need of surgery.
“We are all laser-focused on making sure that Wilber doesn’t die in custody,” said Rochelle Garza, president of the legal nonprofit Texas Civil Rights Project who is part of Garcés’ legal team.
Garcés Pérez had his initial appearance in federal court Tuesday, said U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons in a statement.
The criminal complaint accuses Garcés Pérez of striking an ICE officer’s torso with his car’s side mirror while trying to drive away. This officer was not wearing a body camera at the time of the encounter, as the Department of Homeland Security has stated previously, but the complaint includes images appearing to capture this moment from the body camera of a second ICE officer who was also there. After this, “a high-speed chase through a commercial and residential area” ensued, the complaint states.
Tuesday’s court appearance following the criminal complaint took Garcés Pérez’s legal team “as a surprise,” they told NBC News in a statement.
“His attorneys only learned of this appearance due to a pre-scheduled meeting they had with him this morning, in which he did not appear,” their statement said. “This morning, when his attorneys were finally able to see him, he was in considerable pain, dizzy, and needed pain medication, which had not been provided. Rather than provide the life saving medical care he needs, DHS and the government are playing games with his life.”
Garcés Pérez was transferred out of a facility in San Antonio, where he had been in immigration custody for nine days, and placed in federal criminal custody in a facility near Austin, according to Garza.
“It has created a web of detention for him,” she said of having Garcés Pérez be transferred from custody.
According to the complaint, after the chase began, the ICE officer wearing his body camera — identified in the complaint by the initials D.F. — lost sight of Garcés Pérez and of the other ICE officer, who was not wearing his body camera and is identified in the complaint by the initials L.G.
The ICE officer who was not wearing his body camera eventually called his colleague. “L.G. told D.F. that Garcs had attempted to strike L.G. with his car and L.G. had fired his pistol,” the complaint states. The complaint provides no visual evidence of that interaction.
The complaint also includes the account of events Garcés Pérez provided to federal investigators. He said an SUV from one of the ICE officers struck his “car and caused it to spin around” following a short pursuit, the complaint states. “After coming to a forced stop, Garces recalled L.G. firing his pistol into the backright window of Garces’ car. Garces was struck with a bullet in his upper back.”
By contrast, U.S. Attorney Simmons said in the statement that Garcés Pérez tried to strike an officer with his car, “causing the officer to fire his pistol.”
A court hearing scheduled for Wednesday in Garcés Pérez’s lawsuit challenging his detention is expected to go forward as planned, Garza said.
Last Tuesday, a federal judge had granted an emergency order temporarily blocking deportation proceedings against Garcés Pérez, according to one of his attorneys, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch.
“We are still fighting to ensure that the government doesn’t re detain him under immigration custody following whatever is being done on the criminal side,” Garza said.
