The video

In the video, Driskell, Mendoza and Hernandez are standing in a driveway behind two houses near a high school baseball field. Driskell had pulled over Mendoza, who was following Hernandez home, for failing to come to a complete stop at a stop sign. It’s dark out, and the neighborhood is silent but for the barks of some nearby dogs. Hernandez tries to approach Driskell to help him communicate with Mendoza, but Driskell rebuffs him. Driskell appears to dial up the ICE agents a second time.

“Did you get that little pin I dropped you?” Driskell asks into the phone. “I shot y’all a text. I got one guy and he’s real mouthy” – meaning Hernandez – “and I can’t understand a word he’s saying. It’s a traffic stop that’s pulled up into the back of a house. I told him I had somebody coming that speaks Spanish.”

As a recipient of federal funding, the Laurel Police Department should have its own interpreters. The rule is meant to protect the civil rights of those who speak only limited English. Here, it may have prevented the use of force altogether.

After Driskell summons ICE, he places Mendoza in handcuffs and cites him for driving under the influence. Hernandez walks between the houses and into a nearby street. Driskell and another Laurel police officer, who had just arrived, appear to think Hernandez is running and follow him. In the street, Hernandez turns a corner to find two ICE agents who were en route to the scene seconds earlier. Someone can be heard yelling, “Get on the fucking ground” and “baje, baje,” Spanish for “get down, get down.” Agent Causey fires a shot at Hernandez just seconds later from about 60 feet away.

On July 20, 2016, in Laurel, Mississippi, an ICE agent shot an unarmed man in the street. The SPLC obtained video footage captured by a local police officer’s body camera, which reveals the potential hazards of involving ICE in local policing.

Some details of the shooting remain hazy. Causey claims Hernandez was reaching into his pocket when he fired his shot. Afterward, the video shows him yelling, “You shouldn’t have reached in your pocket,” as Hernandez lies in the street moaning, his blood pooling around him.

According to allegations in the court filing, Hernandez had his hands raised. The bullet hit him in the lower right arm, and he was carrying nothing but his cell phone. He would face months of painful recovery. He lost segments of his bone and suffered permanent nerve damage, according to the lawsuit.

An agent with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation arrived on the scene almost immediately. For a month, he collected evidence and interviews, including a bedside interview with Hernandez. But after that, the case went dormant. A Mississippi grand jury entered a “no bill” on June 16.

The incident – and lack of any charges – is reminiscent of many other police shootings caught on camera that have led to widespread calls for police reform.

A spokesman for ICE did not respond to questions about whether Causey was reprimanded by the agency. Instead, he referred the SPLC to a statement from last year, which says that “ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility investigates ICE officer-involved shootings.” At some point, ICE collected the same body-camera footage that was obtained by the SPLC through a public records request.

It is unclear what happened within the agency from there. But what is clear – as the recent inspector general’s report points out – is the lack of oversight within the DHS, ICE’s parent department, when it comes to use of force by its agents.

Hernandez now waits for Causey’s response in court. The suit is a difficult, last-ditch effort to find justice. Regardless of how it proceeds, the story will enter the court record over the coming months as a cautionary tale for local police working with ICE.