About 25 bystanders became unruly, leading to some being charged with crimes while interfering with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers Thursday morning in Worcester, Mass. Photo Courtesy of Immigration and Customs Enforcement
May 10 (UPI) — An immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest became chaotic as bystanders tried to stop the federal agents from arresting a woman in a Worcester, Mass., neighborhood late Thursday morning.
A mother and daughter, who had a newborn baby with her, and another relative were trying to enter a vehicle on Eureka Street when ICE agents stopped them, NBC News reported.
About 25 people surrounded the vehicle, which prompted the ICE agents to seek assistance from the Worcester Police Department at 11:13 a.m. EDT, the WPD said in a news release.
“We also received a call from someone saying that ICE officers were on scene and refusing to show a warrant to the crowd,” the news release says.
“Worcester Police officers responded to preserve the peace and prevent anyone from being injured.”
When the police arrived, they described the scene as “chaotic” and said officers from several federal agencies were trying to take the woman into custody.
“The crowd was unruly, and several people were putting their hands on federal agents and Worcester officers in an attempt to keep the vehicle and the arrestee from leaving,” the news release says.
Some were yelling, “Where’s the warrant?”
The WPD release says the officers tried to de-escalate the situation as the federal agents attempted to leave with the woman they had arrested.
“As the vehicle went to pull away, a juvenile female had a newborn baby in her arms and was standing in front of the car,” the WPD release says.
Officers told her she was endangering the child and she needed to move out of the way.
She eventually complied and gave the baby to someone else.
“As the vehicle moved away, she ran after the vehicle and kicked the passenger’s side,” the release says.
“It appeared that she was going to run in front of the moving vehicle, and officers took her into custody.”
Video footage shows the teen, who might be the baby’s mother, screaming and trying to run from police before they tackled and arrested her.
She is charged with reckless endangerment of a child, disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The infant was not injured.
While the police arrested the teen, another woman, identified as 38-year-old Ashley Spring, pushed several officers and threw an unknown liquid substance on them.
She was arrested and is charged with assault and battery on a police officer, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon due to the unknown liquid substance, disorderly conduct and interfering with a police officer.
The incident is under investigation, including reviewing video footage, and more charges might be forthcoming.