Carlos Jimenez, a father of three, was indicted by a federal grand jury last week after prosecutors accused him of trying to "reverse" his car into a Border Patrol agent conducting an early morning Oct. 30 immigration stop near the Ontario mobile home park where he lives. An accompanying ICE agent, according to a complaint filed shortly after the incident, had ordered him to leave and pulled out a gun and pepper spray.
OAKLAND - The woman accused of driving a U-Haul truck into live gunfire at Alameda's Coast Guard Island during immigration protests in October is out on bail, according to multiple media reports. Bella Thompson, 26, charged by federal prosecutors with one count of assault on a federal officer, stepped out of Santa Rita Jail Friday morning, NBC Bay Area reported. Also known as Bella Castillo, she first appeared in an Oakland courtroom earlier this month.
If convicted, Thompson could face up to 20 years in prison. Thompson — an active member of Oakland's queer art community, as the founder of an art collective that routinely staged open mic nights and other workshops in the East Bay — said little during the hearing. Appearing shackled in black jeans and a black hoodie, Thompson said only Yes, your honor, when asked if she understood the charges against her.
An officer was speaking to the three occupants of the Honda on the car's driver's side when Jimenez pulled up in his Lexus RX350, also on the driver's side where the officer was, the complaint states. That's when Jimenez engaged in a verbal altercation with the officers at the vehicle stop, and another officer approached with his firearm and told Jimenez to leave, before holstering his firearm and taking out his pepper spray, according to the complaint.