ICE facing fierce backlash after video apparently shows unconscious man clutching child during arrest

"The footage, obtained by the Boston Globe, shows a frantic commotion inside a vehicle in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, on Thursday. A desperate woman in the passenger seat tries to awaken the man in the driver's seat, with a crying child in the middle. People can be heard shouting: He's having a seizure. An officer can be seen trying to pull the passengers from the vehicle, while a Fitchburg police officer orders the crowd to back up repeatedly. They're trying to rip the baby out of [his] hand, another bystander says."

"ICE said the video did not accurately represent the situation. Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary at the US Department of Homeland Security, said on social media that emergency medical personnel at the scene found no legitimate medical episode and the family refused medical care. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in a statement on social media wrote: Imagine FAKING a seizure to help a criminal escape justice."

"Carlos Sebastian Zapata, the man in the video, told the Boston Globe on Friday that he fell unconscious as he feared his wife would be taken into custody. I wasn't letting go of my wife because they wanted to take her away, Zapata told the newspaper. He said agents pushed him during the attempted arrest, hit him around his ribs and pressed on his neck. And that's when I let go of my wife, Zapata said. I had convulsions or something."

A viral video shows chaotic scenes inside a vehicle in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, where a man appears to lose consciousness while holding a small child as officers attempt an arrest. Bystanders shout that he is having a seizure while officers try to remove passengers and a local police officer orders the crowd to back up. DHS and ICE said medical personnel found no legitimate medical episode and that the family refused care, calling the seizure an apparent fabrication. The operation targeted the man's wife, Juliana Milena Ojeda-Montoya, who was taken into custody on a warrant after an assault charge.

Read at www.theguardian.com