A Chicago television producer who was detained by immigration agents while 'walking to the bus stop' has hired legal help to hold the federal officers accountable.
Veteran WGN-TV producer Deborah Brockman was slammed to the ground as mask-wearing Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers cuffed her in the Chicago suburb of Lincoln Square on Friday.
'Brockman who is a US. citizen born in this country, was violently detained on Foster Avenue, on the north side of Chicago,' Attorney Brad Thomson said Tuesday.
Brockman 'adamantly denies' any assault allegations on the federal officers, and her legal team added she 'was the one who was violently assaulted.'
'This incident should be alarming and horrifying to every single person in this country.'
The local TV producer was detained and held in custody for seven hours before she was released without charges.
The CBP agents were driving in the area while conducting immigration enforcement operations when Brockman allegedly threw something at their vehicle, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Her legal team stated she was simply walking to the bus stop when she was assaulted by the federal agents.
Deborah Brockman (pictured), a veteran producer at WGN-TV, was forced to the ground as mask-wearing CBP officers cuffed her in the Chicago suburb of Lincoln Square on Friday
The local television producer who was dramatically detained in the middle of a Chicago street, with her backside exposed
The officers behind Brockman's arrest stopped at nothing to take her into custody - damaging a resistant driver's SUV after they refused to move out of the way (pictured: the back bumper ripped off the SUV)
The officers behind Brockman's arrest stopped at nothing to take her into custody - damaging an SUV after the driver refused to move out of the way.
Outrageous video from neighborhood resident Josh Thomas showed Brockman face down on the street with her blue jeans fallen - leaving her backside exposed.
Witnesses heckled the officers carrying out the arrest, calling them 'fascists' and a variety of profane names.
Thomas approached Brockman, who appeared desperate and afraid, and asked for her name.
With her glasses crooked and slipping from her face, she frantically replied: 'Debbie Brockman, I work for WGN. Let them know!'
Her legal team added she provided this information 'because she hoped someone would notify her employer that she would not be arriving at work that day.'
The producer clarified she was not acting in any professional capacity as an employee of WGN during the time of her arrest.
Witnesses broke out in uproar once again after she was dragged into a Border Patrol vehicle.
The silver CBP vehicle began to drive off, but abruptly stopped after a few feet because a black SUV was partially blocking its path.
An agent stepped out of the passenger's side and started yelling to the driver to move - an order the driver refused.
Witnesses heckled the officers carrying out the arrest, calling them 'fascists' and a variety of profane names
While Brockman was not at a protest during the heart-pounding encounter, a chaotic anti-ICE protest was happening simultaneously near a DHS facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview (pictured)
The fed-up officer went back to the car and slammed the door shut. The vehicle then swiftly drove off through the too-narrow space between the SUV and the curb.
'This is not isolated and reflects a growing and dangerous trend of illegal aliens violently resisting arrest and agitators and criminals ramming cars into our law enforcement officers,' DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said while acknowledging that Brockman is a US citizen.
An anonymous witness told WGN-TV that the agents appeared to be conducting an ICE raid and were looking for a man on a property near where Brockman was arrested. The witness claimed that the officers also detained that individual.
'Ms. Brockman was taken to the ground, battered, handcuffed and her pants were pulled down exposing her bare buttocks,' her lawyer said.
'No one should be treated like that in this city, in this country, or anywhere else in the world.'
Her legal team added that she will not be making any additional statements because she 'feels that she has been “exposed” enough.'
