DURANGO, Colo. (KDVR) — A protester is still in shock days after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent picked her up and threw her to the ground in Durango earlier this week. The entire incident was caught on camera and is now being reviewed by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
57-year-old Francie Staggie went to an ICE facility in Durango early Tuesday morning to protest the arrest of Fernando Jaramillo Solano and, more specifically, his two children, ages 12 and 15.
“When I talk about it, it’s really scary,” Staggie said.
She says she arrived at the ICE facility just after 5 a.m. When the customers finally showed up, she began taking a video, asking the customer wearing a mask to show his face. The agent is then seen in the video knocking the phone out of her hand.
Stagi says in a knee-jerk reaction she grabbed the agent’s shoulder.
“As I did that, I realized I shouldn’t have touched it,” Staggie said. “He can touch us; he can kidnap children. He can physically pick people up off the street and push them using his entire body weight into the car. But I’m not allowed to touch his shoulder.”
The agent is then seen quickly turning around, grabbing Stagi and eventually throwing her to the ground.
“He basically got me out of my head in quite a few ways,” Staggie said. “He threw me with all his might. As if it wasn’t nice, he dropped that kind of thing. I was thrown over the bridge.”
Staggie says she fell on her head and neck, but the grass prevented her from being seriously injured. She still fears for her safety, saying agents stood over her.
“I thought they were going to kick me to death,” Staggie said.
Staggie says another protester eventually helped her, but she said she saw others hit with pepper spray and rubber bullets later.
“They physically opened the woman’s mouth and again, a long spray down her throat,” Staggie said.
ICE declined to comment directly on the interaction with Stagi, instead giving us a statement about the protest as a whole, saying in part: “While ICE respects your First Amendment rights to peaceful protest, extremist protesters often misrepresent ICE’s mission.”
“Such disturbances have also contributed to a 1,000% increase in assaults on ICE officers and agents, who work tirelessly to enforce immigration laws and protect public safety,” the statement also said.
Staggie says that although she feels afraid, she doesn’t plan to stop speaking out.
“Someone has to stand up for these people, these kids,” Staggie said.
The CBI is now investigating any violations of state criminal law in the incident, and says any potential charges will come from the district attorney once the investigation is complete.