The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California announced the charge in the unsealed criminal complaint ahead of his court appearance on Tuesday. The suspect was arrested by the FBI one day ago, according to his attorney.
Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez, a 36-year-old man from El Salvador, is accused of hitting an ICE officer with his vehicle during an April 7 traffic stop in Patterson, California.
The stop was initiated because ICE suspected he was an “18th Street Gang member wanted in El Salvador for questioning in connection to a murder,” acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said. Mendoza Hernandez’s lawyer, Patrick Kolasinski, denied that his client was a gang member. Kolasinski also insisted Mendoza Hernandez didn’t intend to hurt anybody while attempting to flee the scene.
The suspect failed to comply with the ICE officers’ request to step out of the vehicle and subsequently drove toward one of the
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