Immigration Agent Is Charged With Assaulting a Colorado Protester
The New York Times • • nation
Key Points:
- Nicholas Rice, an immigration officer in southwest Colorado, was charged with third-degree assault and criminal mischief after a video showed him grabbing a protester by the hair and throwing her down an embankment last October.
- The charges were filed by Durango District Attorney Sean Murray, marking one of the few instances where local prosecutors have charged federal agents involved in President Trump’s immigration enforcement.
- The incident occurred during protests following the arrest of a Colombian asylum seeker in Durango, a liberal town, which led to heightened tensions and demonstrations against ICE.
- The protester, Franci Stagi, was recording Rice when he knocked her phone away, grabbed her by the hair, put her in a chokehold, and hurled her down an embankment, prompting an investigation by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
- Stagi expressed that while she was relieved by the charges, she found them too lenient and revealed ongoing emotional distress and increased paranoia following the assault.
