FBI searching for man accused of injuring 3 ICE agents during North Texas traffic stop
Federal authorities are searching for a Honduran man accused of injuring three U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop in Lewisville, after prosecutors unsealed a federal indictment Thursday and asked the public for help locating him.
Prosecutors unsealed the indictment against 28-year-old Jerson Lopez-Sanchez, who is charged with three counts of assault of a federal agent and is currently not in custody. Authorities said Lopez-Sanchez is an undocumented immigrant.
According to an indictment unsealed in the Eastern District of Texas, federal immigration officers in three vehicles attempted a traffic stop on a white pickup truck that was driving on I-35 in Lewisville on Dec. 1. The truck pulled off the interstate onto South Stemmons Freeway near Vista Ridge Mall.
The driver of the pickup, who prosecutors identified as Lopez-Sanchez, initially stopped, then put his truck in reverse, hitting one of the ICE vehicles. An ICE agent had one leg outside of the vehicle and was injured, the release said.
Lopez-Sanchez then tried to drive off, but another ICE vehicle blocked his way. Prosecutors said he accelerated and rammed into the vehicle, injuring the two agents inside.
Lopez-Sanchez then allegedly led the third vehicle on a chase for about 10 minutes, then stopped on the median of East Valley Ridge Boulevard near East College Street in Lewisville. All five of the people inside the vehicle ran from the scene; three of them were captured, but not Lopez-Sanchez.
Prosecutors said one of the men who was arrested was Lopez-Sanchez's uncle, who identified him as the driver.
The Department of Justice is asking anyone with information about Lopez-Sanchez to report it to the FBI, and said they may be eligible for a reward. He is described as a 5'8" Hispanic man weighing 165 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.
Lopez-Sanchez faces up to 20 years in prison on each of the three charges.
