An off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent was accused of drunkenly combating with Lengthy Seashore law enforcement officials earlier this week after he was requested to go away a bar, authorities mentioned.
Isaiah Hodgson, 29, was charged with three counts of resisting arrest, one depend of battery inflicting harm to a police officer and a number of other misdemeanor weapons offenses in reference to the July 7 episode within the Shoreline Village space, a busy vacationer part of Lengthy Seashore not removed from the place the Queen Mary is docked, in keeping with Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman.
“The conduct exhibited by Mr. Hodgson, a border patrol agent who has the responsibility to uphold the legislation and shield its residents, is unacceptable and deeply troubling,” Hochman mentioned in an announcement. “Nobody is above the legislation, no matter their place or badge.”
Hodgson was “off-duty, intoxicated and armed with a handgun” inside a restaurant when he entered the ladies’s restroom and approached a feminine, in keeping with an announcement from the district legal professional’s workplace. The lady seen Hodgson carrying a firearm and notified restaurant workers, prosecutors mentioned. Exterior the restaurant, a safety guard approached Hodgson and requested him to go away since firearms weren’t allowed on the property, in keeping with the information launch.
When Lengthy Seashore law enforcement officials responded to the scene, they decided Hodgson was intoxicated and “unwilling to cooperate with their instructions as they tried to detain him.”
Alyssa Baeza, a public info officer for the Lengthy Seashore Police Division, mentioned officers had to make use of a stun gun to subdue Hodgson. The Border Patrol agent “refused to offer employment info” when questioned by officers, in keeping with Baeza, who mentioned one officer suffered a minor harm through the scuffle.
A spokesperson for the L.A. County Public Defender’s Workplace, which is representing Hodgson, couldn’t instantly remark. Hodgson pleaded not responsible throughout an arraignment Friday and is due again in courtroom subsequent week.
Final month, Hodgson was concerned within the controversial detention of Adrian Martinez, a U.S. citizen accused of interfering in immigration arrests at a Walmart in Pico Rivera, in keeping with the legislation agency representing Martinez.
Brokers rushed the 20-year-old Martinez and shoved him to the bottom after he confronted them as they tried to arrest one in all his co-workers on the purchasing middle. Surveillance and spectator video captured footage exhibiting officers dragging Martinez to a truck.
Whereas the highest federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, Invoice Essayli, publicly claimed Martinez punched a federal legislation enforcement officer through the fracas, expenses filed by his workplace don’t mirror that, and video from the scene doesn’t present Martinez hanging anybody. Finally, Martinez was charged with conspiracy to impede a federal legislation enforcement officer as a result of he allegedly wheeled a trash can within the path of a Border Patrol car, courtroom data present.
Video from the scene doesn’t clearly present Hodgson laying fingers on Martinez. Not like most brokers who’ve descended on Los Angeles in current weeks, Hodgson was not sporting a masks the day of Martinez’s arrest.
“The Border Patrol agent was arrested for an off-duty act of felony violence, which is indicative of the violence continuously seen in ICE/Border Patrol arrests,” learn an announcement from the Miller Legislation Agency, which represents Martinez. “The arrest confirms the fears many have proper now concerning violent, unaccountable and unhinged federal brokers roaming the streets. Masked brokers are violently and lawlessly kidnapping and warehousing our group members — residents and non-citizens alike.”
Martinez has denied all wrongdoing via his attorneys.
Hodgson was launched on his personal recognizance within the Lengthy Seashore case however is just not allowed to own firearms or depart the state, in keeping with the D.A.’s workplace.
If convicted as charged, Hodgson faces as much as seven years in state jail, prosecutors mentioned.
A Division of Homeland Safety spokeswoman mentioned in an electronic mail that the matter is “underneath investigation.” Neither DHS nor the Border Patrol responded to questions on Hodgson’s project or his position in widespread immigration raids throughout Southern California which have roiled residents and spawned a number of lawsuits. Earlier this week, a phalanx of federal brokers led by Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement descended on MacArthur Park in a militaristic present of power that in the end netted zero arrests.
Whereas most L.A. elected officers have closely criticized the Trump administration’s techniques in current weeks, Hochman, a political impartial, has noticeably tried to keep out of the political fray.
Instances workers author Brittny Mejia contributed to this report.
