Video shows men neighbors say are immigration agents taking down a teen in Thermal

THERMAL, Calif. (KESQ) A cellphone video shows two men neighbors say are federal immigration agents pulling a kneeling young man to the ground and handcuffing him in the front yard of a Thermal mobile home park Friday morning. Neighbors say he is 14.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Office said in an email to News Channel 3 it has no record of its personnel at the park on Oct. 2 and that no one in the video appears to be wearing a sheriff's uniform. "Without better identification, I'm unable to advise on it any further," the email said.

News Channel 3 sent the video to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and asked whether its agents were involved, but has not received a response.

The 32-second video was recorded through a sliding glass door from inside a home. It begins with the young man already on his knees on a patch of grass next to a dirt road. A man in an olive-green uniform and brimmed hat grabs him by the shoulder and pulls him over into the dirt, then rolls him onto his stomach and puts his weight on his back. A second man in black runs in. The two hold him face down for about 20 seconds while they cuff his hands behind him, then lift him to his knees.

The video shows no punches, kicks or drawn weapons. It does not show what happened before the young man was on his knees.

Neighbors told News Channel 3 agents had set up a checkpoint nearby and the teen sped toward the park trying to get home. They said his car was rammed and its windows broken before the video starts, and that he has since been released. News Channel 3 could not confirm those accounts with authorities.

A woman whose family lives in the home where the arrest happened asked not to be identified.

"We are left deeply traumatized and afraid I tell you, you aren't even safe in your own home anymore," she said. "We've been here about 20 years, but something like this had never happened before not once."

Angel Ceja, who works at the property, said he had planned to be there Friday but went to clean his church instead.

"I feel blessed, thank God, because I didn't have to work here that day only God knows the reasons why," Ceja explained. "We were actually planning to come work here that day, but we decided not to because we were going to clean the church I attend. Later, the lady of the house called to explain the situation; I watched the video and realized that, truly, this was the place where it had happened right here where I'm working now."

ICE's use-of-force directive, which News Channel 3 reviewed, says officers may use force only when "no reasonably effective, safe, and feasible alternative appears to exist," and only as much as is "objectively reasonable." It lists takedowns among "hard techniques," one level below deadly force, and says every use of force must be reported and reviewed.

The same directive says whether a person is "attempting to evade arrest by flight" and the person's apparent age are both factors in judging whether force was reasonable.

This story will be updated with additional info as it becomes available.