A 40-year-old woman accused of assaulting federal immigration enforcement officers as she tried to block the officers from detaining a man on East Burnside Street Thursday morning was ordered released from custody pending trial.
Temika Gardner attempted to intervene when U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation officers stopped a man driving a Volkswagen after conducting surveillance of an apartment complex in the 14300 block of Burnside, according to a federal affidavit.
The unnamed man tried to reverse his car but was blocked in by federal vehicles, the affidavit said.
After an officer placed the motorist in an ICE vehicle, Gardner stood behind the government vehicle, filming the detention on her cellphone.
At one point, she’s accused of opening the rear door of the federal detention vehicle to allow the man detained to escape, the affidavit said.
The man ran toward an apartment as officers chased after him and rearrested him, according to the affidavit.
Gardner continued to film the encounter on her phone and placed her hands on officers to “impede their movement,” the affidavit said.
She’s accused of striking an officer in the face and pulling the officer’s face covering off and throwing it to the ground, the affidavit said. She hit another officer twice in the face, knocking his sunglasses off and then struck an officer in the jaw, the affidavit said. At one point, she called the officers’ badges “fake,” the affidavit said.
Gardner wasn’t the only person challenging the sudden detention of the man, prompting the officers to issue a distress call over their radio seeking backup from other officers, the affidavit said. During their arrest of Gardner, she resisted and ended up in a struggle with officers on the ground, the affidavit said.
Gardner made her first appearance in federal court Friday afternoon.
Assistant Federal Public Defender Robert Hamilton convinced U.S. Magistrate Judge Jolie A. Russo to release Gardner on her own recognizance, noting she has a stable residence with her daughter.
He described her actions as “spontaneous,” saying she didn’t know the people involved.
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