ICE Agent Tases Man Multiple Times in Brutal Arrest Outside Bushwick Hospital

A harrowing video obtained by THE CITY exposes the violent tactics used by ICE agents in Bushwick, Brooklyn, as they repeatedly tased a man and forcefully dragged him from his vehicle. The man, later identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Nigerian national Chidozie Wilson Okeke, was captured on camera screaming in pain and pleading for legal counsel while one agent cut his seatbelt with a knife.

The footage shows Okeke seated in the driver’s seat of a white car with the door open, enduring multiple tasings while begging bystanders for help. “Somebody help me,” he cries out. “They are killing me.” After the initial assault, another video shows him handcuffed on the ground, still screaming.

ICE claims Okeke was “physically combative” and “weaponized his vehicle” to attack officers, insisting the force used was the minimum necessary. Yet witnesses tell a different story. Ivan Carrion, a nearby resident, recounted hearing a car window smash and seeing agents choke and hit Okeke while trying to pull him out of the car. “I just didn’t know they were able to forcefully force themselves into somebody’s car and pull him out like that,” Carrion said.

The violent arrest triggered a chaotic standoff outside Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, where Okeke was taken for treatment. Protesters quickly gathered, chanting and confronting ICE agents, who responded with pepper spray and aggressive crowd control. Videos show agents speeding through crowds and dragging Okeke from the hospital in handcuffs amid a heavy NYPD presence.

While NYPD claims they did not participate in the ICE operation, Councilmember Sandy Nurse witnessed what she described as “direct coordination” between ICE and police officers facilitating the removal of Okeke. Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned ICE’s tactics as “cruel and inhumane” and reiterated that NYPD will not engage in civil immigration enforcement.

The New York Immigration Coalition called for an investigation, highlighting the pattern of ICE’s “violent and unlawful tactics” that endanger immigrant lives and disregard legal rights. Okeke’s arrest and the subsequent hospital standoff underscore the ongoing abuses by ICE and the urgent need for transparency and accountability.

This incident is yet another example of ICE’s aggressive overreach and the complicity of local law enforcement, raising serious questions about the protection of immigrant communities and the rule of law in New York City.