Police Failed to Respond

CALIRED NEWS–What happened in Chicago’s Brighton Park (East Precinct) on Saturday, Oct. 4 when ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement–an agency under the Department of Homeland Security whose mission includes enforcing immigration laws and ensuring national security) agents were surrounded?

The Chicago Police Department was told by one of its highest-ranking officers to “stand down” and not respond. These orders were issued by Chief of Patrol Jon Hein according to Tim Hecke, managing partner of CWBChicago–created in 2013 by five residents to provide original reporting on local Community Policing.

CWBChicago reported that “around 10:30 a.m. a woman called 911 and reported that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent had shot her in the 3900 block of South Kedzie. Chicago officers initially responded to the scene, where federal agents claimed the woman was armed and part of a caravan of vehicles attempting to obstruct ICE operations. She was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital with gunshot wounds to her legs, arms, and chest, according to preliminary information.

“On Saturday night, the Department of Homeland Security  identified the woman as Marimar Martinez, saying she was ‘armed with a semi-automatic weapon and has a history of doxxing federal agents…She is currently in the custody of the FBI. The driver of another vehicle, Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, involved in the ramming has been apprehended by law enforcement.’ Protests erupted in the area shortly after the shooting. ‘As our ICE law enforcement was responding to the shooting, a domestic terrorist followed them and rammed their vehicle in an attempt to run them off the road. This individual has also been arrested and is in custody.’”

According to CWBChicago, “video circulating on social media shows an SUV repeatedly ramming the rear of an unmarked Border Patrol pickup truck as the vehicles traveled south on Kedzie Avenue near 36th Place. The truck’s emergency lights were activated as the black SUV struck its bumper multiple times. Both vehicles then sped south in the opposite lane of traffic.

“After passing under a viaduct, the SUV forced the Border Patrol truck into a curb at 3700 South Kedzie, kicking up dust from road construction. Even after the crash, the SUV’s driver continued accelerating into the pickup as an agent emerged from the truck and appeared to aim a firearm at him.

“A second federal vehicle arrived and rammed the SUV from behind as more agents jumped out. The SUV then suddenly accelerated forward, bouncing into the air several times before coming to rest in a construction zone.”

Today (Oct. 6) Breitbart reporter Warner Todd Huston reported that it was sanctuary city Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson that “reportedly ordered its police force to refuse calls for help from ICE agents who are under siege by increasingly violent protesters in support of criminal illegal aliens.”

Breitbart reports that the inaction of local police has “infuriated the nation’s largest national police union” with National Fraternal Order of Police (FOB) President Patrick Yoes saying: “Let me be clear, both the National FOB and the Illinois FOB believe that when an officer calls for assistance, you answer no matter what…We condemn these actions and urge Chicago officials to ensure that any law enforcement officer needing assistance is guaranteed that their brothers and sisters in law enforcement respond expeditiously.

“The number one unwritten rule in law enforcement is that we respond to any calls from officers in distress. What would have happened if the local police were facing threats and nearby federal officers were told not to assist?” added Illinois State FOP President Chris Southwood. “Whether you agree about immigration enforcement or not, when a law enforcement officer is in trouble, nothing should stand in the way of fellow officers rendering assistance.”

“Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security is blaming the increasing violence that ICE faces in Chicago and other cities on “sanctuary” politicians who are stirring insurrection to achieve their political goals.

“Thankfully none of our law enforcement was killed because of these deranged criminals’ attacks on law enforcement,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement on Sunday. “This is exactly what happens when Governor [J.B.] Pritzker, Mayor [Brandon] Johnson, and other sanctuary politicians demonize ICE and encourage illegal aliens to resist law enforcement.

“McLaughlin also pointed out that ICE has suffered a 1,000-percent increase in violence directed at them.”

Also reported today (Oct. 6) by Gateway editor Jim Hoft, Chicago attorney and former police lieutenant John Garrido, of Garrido & Stoppa, P.C., weighed in on social media, calling the stand-down directive “deeply disturbing and possibly illegal.” He wrote: “under Illinois law (720 ILCS 5/7-15 and 5/7-16), every peace officer has a duty to render aid and a duty to intervene to prevent harm or injury when it is safe to do so.

“To order officers to ignore a call for help from fellow law enforcement, any law enforcement, isn’t just a violation of basic ethics. It could be gross negligence, dereliction of duty, and possibly even criminal if harm resulted.

“In my 32 years of service with the Chicago Police Department, I have never heard anything this egregious. No badge should ever be told to turn their back on another officer in distress. Period.”