ICE AGENTS INJURE US CITIZEN IN MISTAKEN ILLINOIS ARREST

Federal immigration agents injured a US citizen in Evanston, a Chicago suburb, after mistaking him for a suspect they were seeking, according to witnesses and bystander video that has circulated widely online. The man was hospitalised with injuries to his head and neck, with one account adding that his teeth were also affected. Witness Ryan Garton told reporters he saw two agents pinning the man to the ground at the side of the road on Sunday as he shouted that he was a citizen. Garton said he pulled over to film the confrontation and that roughly five bystanders gathered, calling on the agents to stop. Police in Illinois said this week they are investigating the case.

Garton described the man's upper right eye socket and temple as swollen "as if he had been punched", and said his face appeared scraped "as if it had been ground into the pavement". He said one agent knelt on the man's back while the man repeated that he was a citizen, and that the agent acknowledged already knowing this before stepping away, leaving bloodstains in the shape of handprints visible on the man's shirt. A second witness, Michael Lipson, who owns a shop across the street, said he saw officers wrestle the man to the ground and described his face afterwards as "badly messed up". Lipson said the agents checked cards and papers from the man's wallet before leaving them scattered on the road, and that he laid out his own sweatshirt so the man could rest while Garton examined his injuries. The man told Garton he had been walking to a pharmacy to collect a prescription when the agents stopped him.

Illinois authorities have confirmed an investigation is under way into how the arrest was carried out and why the man was mistaken for the person agents were pursuing. No details have yet been released on whether any agents face disciplinary or legal consequences. The video of the arrest has drawn wide attention online since it was shared. Witnesses say the man remains in hospital being treated for his injuries, though further updates on his condition have not been confirmed.