With regard to Bovino’s tossing the canister, the Department of Homeland Security had said he took action in response to hostility from protesters, saying someone threw a rock at his head. A DHS statement last week also said that “rioters … shot at agents with commercial artillery shell fireworks” and that an unruly crowd was repeatedly warned to step back.
“The statement is a lie,” plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote in a court filing Sunday. They went on to say the DHS statement fit into two patterns: “the government is inventing exigencies that do not exist to justify its actions. Second, the government is perpetrating extreme violence against peaceful and innocent American civilians in order to provoke a reaction that the government then uses as an after-the-fact justification for the violence it has already used.”
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Monday, “Chief Bovino was hit in the head by a rock, thankfully he was wearing a ballistic helmet which prevented what could have been deadly injury.”
The court filing referred to a comment Bovino made to a reporter for Telemundo, which was translated into Spanish in its report, after the Little Village exchange. “‘Did Judge Ellis get hit in the head by a rock like I did this morning?’ Defendant Bovino continues saying something like, ‘maybe she needs to see what that’s like before she gives an order like that,’” according to the court filing.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys referred to those comments from Bovino in arguing that the agency was flouting a judicial order. In recent court filings, they contend that after Ellis’ warning, DHS only cranked up its operations.
Another person who said he was present during the Little Village incident, Chris Gentry, said in a declaration to the court that a federal immigration agent pointed a gun at him and said: “Bang bang” and “you’re dead liberal.”
DHS officials said they planned to argue their side of the events taking part across city neighborhoods, including having to manage hostile crowds.
“We look forward to the American public viewing the footage. DHS can think of nobody better to correct Judge Ellis’s deep misconceptions about its mission than Chief Greg Bovino, and we thank him for his service,” McLaughlin said in a statement.