A Chicago woman whose dramatic and embarrassing arrest at the hands of federal agents captured the world’s attention has aggressively pushed back against the government’s version of events – and has demanded millions for her trouble.
Deborah Brockman, a former WGN-TV producer, was tossed to the ground and detained by mask-wearing Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in the Windy City’s Lincoln Square neighborhood last October 10.
On Tuesday, Brockman filed a Federal Torts Claims Act, typically a precursor to a lawsuit, against the US government over the stunning incident which at one point left her backside exposed, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told the Daily Mail on Wednesday that Brockman had thrown objects at a Border Patrol car being driven by agents during the immigration enforcement operation.
Brockman has accused the US government of assault and battery, false imprisonment, false arrest and intentional infliction of emotional distress, per the reported claim. She is seeking $10million in damages.
Brockman’s filing, obtained by the outlet, accused federal agents of knowing that ‘severe emotional distress was certain’ when they detained her as she walked to a bus stop that day around 8.35am.
She allegedly suffered ‘headaches, pain, tenderness, bruises, abrasions, contusion [and] nausea’ as a result, the reported claim added.
‘She was placed under arrest for assault on a federal law enforcement officer,’ the DHS said.
Deborah Brockman (pictured), a veteran producer at WGN-TV, was forced to the ground as mask-wearing CBP officers cuffed her in the Chicago suburb of Lincoln Square last October
The local television producer was dramatically detained in the middle of a Chicago street and at one point left with her backside exposed
Brockman’s attorney, Brad Thomson, alleged that federal agents ‘accosted her, tackling her and violently throwing her to the ground, battering her and exposing her buttocks, before handcuffing her and throwing her into a van,’ according to a press release cited by Block Club Chicago.
She was held for six hours and released without charges, her attorney said.
‘The outrageous actions of the federal agents who attacked Ms. Brockman demonstrate that they believe they can terrorize our communities and snatch our neighbors off the streets with impunity,’ the press release read.
The DHS stuck to their version of the events that was originally communicated last October.
The agency said ‘several violent agitators’ had used their cars ‘to block in agents in an effort to impede and assault federal officers’ moments earlier.
Officers then used their respective vehicle to ‘strike a suspect’s vehicle and create an opening,’ which the DHS said was done ‘in fear of public safety and of law enforcement.’
That was when Brockman threw the objects at the Border Patrol, according to the agency.
‘This incident is not isolated and reflects a growing and dangerous trend of illegal aliens violently resisting arrest and agitators and criminals ramming cars into our law enforcement officers,’ the DHS said.
Brockman was seen in a viral video on the ground and handcuffed by mask-wearing CBP officers in the Lincoln Square neighborhood in October (pictured)
Last year, then-DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin had said that Brockman had been arrested ‘for throwing objects at law enforcement.’
McLaughlin, who left the Trump administration this February, also posted that the incident was not ‘isolated and reflects a growing and dangerous trend of illegal aliens violently resisting arrest and agitators and criminals ramming cars into our law enforcement officers.’
Those remarks were in line with the DHS’s statement to the Daily Mail on Wednesday.
Brockman is an American citizen, as the former government official also noted.
Chicago lawyer Josh Thomas, who filmed the moment Brockman was being detained, said he left his condo when he saw masked agents trying to detain a man.
When Thomas stepped outside his home, he encountered Brockman being taken into custody.
‘She’s laying on the ground in the street and they’re wrestling with her, trying to get her hands behind her back,’ Thomas, 36, told the Chicago Tribune last October.
He claimed that the agents explained Brockman was being detained for obstruction.
‘I didn’t obstruct,’ she responded, according to Thomas.
Thomas said that about two dozen pedestrians stopped to yell at the immigration agents, while nearby cars also halted and honked.
The DHS told the Daily Mail that Brockman had thrown objects at Border Patrol agents and been placed under arrest for ‘assault on a federal law enforcement officer’ (CBP agent in Chicago)
It was Thomas’ footage that showed Brockman face down on Foster Avenue, with her blue jeans pulled down and backside exposed.
‘Ms. Brockman was taken to the ground, battered, handcuffed and her pants were pulled down exposing her bare buttocks,’ Thomson, her attorney, told Block Club Chicago at the time.
‘No one should be treated like that in this city, in this country, or anywhere else in the world,’ Thomson added.
The video showed Thomas approaching Brockman, whose glasses were crooked and slipping from her face as she identified herself.
‘Debbie Brockman, I work for WGN. Let them know!’ she said in the footage.
She was let go from her job in February after having worked at the company as a producer since 2011.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Brockman’s attorney, Brad Thomson, for further comment.
