A woman who survived being shot five times by a Border Patrol agent in Chicago filed a federal civil lawsuit Monday against the U.S. government, with her lawyers alleging that new evidence shows the agent was not in danger to her life and should face criminal charges.
Marimar Martinez, a teacher’s aide at a Montessori school, was shot and killed in her car by Customs and Border Protection Agent Charles Exum in October. The shooting occurred during the Trump administration’s massive immigration enforcement campaign in Chicago last year, known as Operation Midway Blitz.
The lawsuit was filed a year after Martinez was shot under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which allows private citizens to sue the federal government. Federal agents cannot be directly sued, the lawyers said.
The lawsuit alleges negligence, battery, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution, attorney Michael Gallagher said at a news conference Monday.
“The reality is that the shooting was not justified. She almost lost her life because of it. She has suffered physical and mental injuries ever since,” he said.
The lawyers also urged the Justice Department and local prosecutors to file charges against Exum.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that, in accordance with its policy, Exum had been placed on administrative leave, but did not immediately say whether Exum was still on leave. DHS referred all other questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment on pending litigation.
According to Christopher Parente, also Martinez’s attorney, his office’s investigation and scene analysis showed that Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum shot Martinez without justification and that he was not in danger at the time of the shooting.
The attorneys showed a visual reconstruction of where Exum was when he opened fire on Martinez, based on bullet marks in his vehicle, his injuries and surveillance video.
Martinez was not driving in Exum when he shot him five times, as he had previously claimed, lawyers said. One of the bullets, they claim, passed through the side of the rear passenger seat, showing Exum could not have been standing in front of the car when he fired.
“He was in no way in the path of the vehicle. In fact, she was moving away from him and we established that he charged her,” Gallagher said.
Exum was not wearing a body camera at the time of the shooting. In August, DHS said all ICE officers and agents in the field would be required to wear body cameras.
Martinez spoke briefly at the news conference, saying, “Right now, we’re just focused on moving forward with the civil case and healing emotionally and physically.”
“I’m just happy to see another year, to be with my family,” she said. “I want to raise awareness because what’s happening is not normal. We shouldn’t sit here and normalize what’s happening.”
After the shooting, Martinez and another person at the scene were accused of using their vehicles to try to ram federal law enforcement officers, but the charges were dropped after federal prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss their own case. The motion came after additional video of the incident was released and after it was revealed that Exum had bragged about the shooting in messages to other officers.
According to Reuters, records presented at the hearing showed that during a group conversation with other officers, Exum wrote: “I fired 5 bullets and she made 7 holes. Put that in your book, boys.”
In a message to another recipient, Exum sent a news article about the event followed by the message: “Read it. 5 shots, 7 holes,” Reuters reported.
Parente asked Exum what he meant by those messages at the time. According to records presented at a hearing, Exum responded: “I am a firearms instructor and I pride myself on my shooting skills. »
Martinez’s case is one of the highest-profile examples of federal authorities charging civilians with crashing into vehicles driven by immigration agents.
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