Feds charge Venezuelan facing deportation, shot by ICE agent in Texas with assaulting an officer

Federal prosecutors in Texas announced Tuesday that the Venezuelan delivery driver shot by an ICE agent earlier this month while trying to serve him a final deportation order is being charged with assaulting a law enforcement officer. 

According to a federal complaint, Wilber Rafael Garces-Perez, 28, allegedly tried to escape Immigration and Customs Enforcement Sept. 20 after they pulled him over. The complaint accuses Garces-Perez of sideswiping an officer with his driver's-side car mirror and later attempting to hit an officer with his car, according to the Associated Press. 

He was pulled over after a judge issued a final removal order, according to US Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas.

Garces-Perez provided his driver's license but ignored agents' requests to get out of his car, the complaint alleges. He discussed with an agent in Spanish moving the car and parking it, according to court documents, which say the conversation wasn't aggressive. 

About a minute later, Garces-Perez allegedly "abruptly" closed the window and drove off. One of the officers was struck in his torso with the driver's side-view mirror. 

Garces-Perez, who was reportedly shot in the back, then released from a hospital hours later, was an asylum seeker with a valid work permit, according to immigration lawyer Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch.