A 19-year-old is accused of kicking a federal officer in the groin during an arrest Sunday night as officers tried to clear the driveway and street in front of Portland’s immigration enforcement building.
Samuel Westcott made a first appearance Tuesday in federal court in Portland, facing a charge of assaulting a federal officer.
About 5 p.m. Sunday, U.S. Homeland Security officers were sent to clear a crowd that had assembled outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on South Bancroft Street to allow vehicles to come in and out.
Federal Protective Service officers used a long-range acoustic device known as LRAD to instruct people to leave federal property and clear the entrance area, according to a federal affidavit.
As Federal Protective Service officers began physically removing people from the front of the building’s driveway, one officer tried to get Westcott to move back, a Federal Protective Service agent wrote in an affidavit.
When Westcott made contact with another officer’s forearm, a Federal Protective Service officer tried to “restrain” Westcott and they both fell to the ground, the affidavit said.
During a struggle on the ground, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer tried to intervene and pull Westcott away. As the Border Protection officer pulled Westcott away from the Federal Protective Service officer, Westcott kicked the Federal Protective Service officer in the groin and thigh four to five times, the affidavit said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Youlee Yim You ordered Westcott to be released from federal custody, with the condition that Westcott not return to the blocks around the ICE building and not possess any weapons.
Since June, Westcott is the 19th person accused of assault or attempted assault of a federal officer outside the ICE building. Others have been accused of pushing or shoving officers during arrests, striking one in the head with a rock, throwing a knife at an officer, tossing a water bottle at an officer and spitting in an officer’s face, according to court records.
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