Reversal: Video undermines ICE assault claim

Newly obtained city camera footage from Jan. 14 undercuts ICE’s account of the shooting of Julio C. Sosa-Celis. The clip shows a struggle lasting about 12 seconds with two men and an agent, not a multi-minute beating by three attackers. Sosa-Celis tosses a snow shovel aside before the scuffle and there is no sustained attack with it.

The chase ends at a duplex, where Alfredo A. Aljorna slips near the porch and the three figures grapple briefly by the front door. A second agent arrives only after the scuffle ends. A long, thin object swings once from the porch area, the video has no audio, and a single shot later hits Sosa-Celis in the leg, the bullet passing through the closed front door and lodging inside near a child's playpen.

The federal government had the footage within hours, but prosecutors filed felony charges without viewing it and did not watch it for nearly three weeks. Days before the deadline to seek an indictment, the case was dropped against Sosa-Celis and Aljorna. Two agents tied to the encounter were placed on leave over apparent false testimony under oath and could face criminal charges.

AI-synthesized from multiple reported sources