Federal agents use vehicles to trap and arrest driver in Boyle Heights, leaving child and passenger behind

Federal agents rammed and trapped a white sedan in Boyle Heights on Wednesday that contained a man, woman and child. Agents extracted the man, who was driving, before leaving behind the woman and child.

The Los Angeles Police Department responded to the scene to investigate the traffic collision, said Officer Tony Im, a department spokesperson. He referred all other inquiries to the Department of Homeland Security.

The agency addressed the incident through a social media post Wednesday afternoon.

“This was no hit and run. This was a targeted arrest of a violent rioter who punched a CBP officer,” the department posted on X, referring to Customs and Border Patrol. “When Homeland Security Investigations tried to arrest Christian Damian Cerno-Camacho for the assault, he attempted to flee. He was ultimately arrested and taken into custody.”

Authorities said the woman declined medical treatment after officers responded to the 3700 block of Whittier Boulevard on Wednesday morning.

Video of the incident showed two sports utility vehicles trapping the Mercedes as it turned right, with the second vehicle pushing its bumper into the sedan before federal agents jumped out with guns drawn.

Once the car was stopped and agents exited their vehicles, it appeared that some sort of chemical rounds were fired at the car, video showed. The driver then exited and went to the rear of one of the agent’s vehicles and was taken into custody.

Homeland Security said that officers were facing a dramatic spike in “assaults against them” and were risking their lives for the arrest of “murders, rapists, and gang members.”

“Secretary [Kristi] Noem’s message to the LA rioters is clear,” the post continued. “[Y]ou will not stop us or slow us down. ICE and our federal law enforcement partners will continue to enforce the law. And if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Just hours after federal authorities arrested a man in Boyle Heights for alleged assault on an officer, the surrounding community radiated quiet tension.

John Lopez was working at City of Angels Fire Protection on Whittier Boulevard this morning when he saw what appeared to be a car crash in front of the store. Outside, he saw a car pinned between two trucks and a plume of unidentifiable smoke rise from behind the car.

“I thought at first it might be ICE, but I didn’t think it could be because they wouldn’t do that for normal civilians, like, pin them,” Lopez said. “There were kids involved inside that car, and it is scary to think about,” Lopez said.

Witnesses say during the arrest, officials dispersed a “chemical-smelling” smoke near the vehicle while the woman and child were still inside. It is unclear what the smoke was.

The woman in the vehicle with Cerno-Camacho exited with her child and ran into a nearby grocery store.

A man who works at that store, who asked not to be named, said she and her child were holed up for nearly three hours before being picked up by family.

“She looked scared,” the man told The Times in Spanish. “The smoke was all around the car.”

Tony Meddina, who owns a restaurant across the street, said run-ins with federal agents have inflicted irreversible scars on the majority-Latino community of Boyle Heights.

“A lot of people, families, just aren’t coming out anymore. I live in East L.A. and things there and here [in Boyle Heights] are just completely quiet,” Meddina said.