A man running from immigration and other federal agents in St. Augustine was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer on Tuesday, authorities said.
It was the third death in a week involving encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, following shootings in Texas and Maine.
The 28-year-old was among four occupants of a vehicle that stopped in the parking lot of a Wawa gas station and convenience store on State Road 16 before 7 a.m.
During an encounter with agents from ICE and Homeland Security Investigations, the four fled on foot, with one darting across a busy road into the path of the semi, Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Dylan Bryan said in an emailed statement.
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The driver of the semi stopped and tried to help the man, Bryan said.
In an emailed statement, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed it had conducted an operation and said the Florida Highway Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations were “investigating an incident resulting in the death of a Mexican national.”
The department did not respond to an inquiry from The Associated Press about the status of the other three occupants of the vehicle.
It was at least the 10th death involving encounters with immigration agents since President Donald Trump launched his mass deportation campaign last year. At least two others involved someone being struck by a vehicle.
Last summer, a man fleeing from immigration officers outside a Home Depot store in southern California died after being hit by an SUV as he tried to cross a freeway. Homeland Security officials said that 52-year-old Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez, of Guatemala, was not being pursued by immigration authorities when he was struck.
In October, a pickup truck fatally struck 24-year-old Josué Castro Rivera, of Honduras, on a highway in Norfolk, Virginia, as he tried to escape authorities during a traffic stop. Authorities said Castro Rivera’s vehicle was stopped as part of a “targeted, intelligence-based” operation and that Castro Rivera had “resisted heavily and fled.”
In the aftermatch of two shooting deaths involving immigration agents, the Trump administration ordered ICE to suspend most vehicle stops, a person familiar with the matter told the AP.
The suspension is not absolute and there’s room for exceptions when executing a criminal warrant or working with partner agencies, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive law enforcement operations.
On Monday in Maine, an ICE officer “fearing for public safety” shot and killed a Colombian man attempting to flee in a moving vehicle during an enforcement operation, according to DHS.
A week earlier in Houston, an ICE agent shot and killed a Mexican national man who was attempting to evade arrest in his vehicle. According to DHS, the man ignored commands and attempted to ram the agent who fired in self-defense.
Meantime, the Republican chair of the House Homeland Security Committee has requested a bipartisan briefing for next week from the DHS to discuss ICE’s use-of-force policies and the deployment of body cameras.
Rep. Andrew Garbarino, who represents a congressional district on New York’s Long Island, said the agency hadn’t yet responded to the request.
“You had two shootings this week. I don’t think anybody wants that. I know for a fact, (DHS Secretary Markwayne) Mullin doesn’t want that,” Garbarino said.
State Rep. Angie Nixon, a Democrat from Jacksonville, called Tuesday's death in St. Augustine a tragedy that resulted from an out-of-control agency.
“Whether it’s ICE agents gunning down a father in the streets of Houston, shooting a young man in Maine or conducting operations right here in Northeast Florida that result in a deadly crash, the outcome is the same: fear, chaos and death,” she said.
The Mexican government on Tuesday said it had asked state attorneys general in the U.S. to review the deaths of migrants in ICE custody or during raids for possible criminal prosecution.
