An Oak Park native accused of assaulting U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino is having his remaining federal charges dropped.
Cole Sheridan was arrested by federal agents and charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding a federal officer in connection with a reported altercation with Bovino during a protest at the Broadview ICE facility the morning of Oct. 3. Sheridan had appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Heather McShain on Thursday, Oct. 9 for a probable cause hearing in the case, in which the judge ruled that the “assault” element of the charges could not proceed due to lack of evidence, according to court documents.
Federal prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss the case entirely on Monday, Nov. 3, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Federal agents had said that Sheridan had shoved Bovino back in response after the top-ranking Border Patrol agent had pushed him and other protestors outside of the ICE detention facility that morning. Bovino told federal investigators that he had injured his groin as result of the incident.
During the hearing, U.S. Attorney William Hogan said that Sheridan faced the charges because he had resisted agents and not complied with orders like other protestors.
“There were many protestors in the video who were not arrested,” Hogan said. “That’s because they complied with law enforcement’s lawful orders. Mr. Sheridan, despite his impressive educational background and obvious understanding of English, did not.”
Sheridan’s attorney Ben Horwitz said that the Border Patrol agents were at fault in the incident, that they had set out to make a statement with a “show of force” and that his client did not break the law while peacefully exercising his right to protest.
“This was an incident instigated by the federal authorities,” Horwitz said. “This was a wildly performative event.”
Bovino was not wearing a body camera the day of the incident, and the moment immediately proceeding Sheridan’s arrest was not captured in footage submitted as evidence during last month’s hearing. Last week, U.S. Judge Sara Ellis ordered Bovino to begin wearing a body camera, as most of the border patrol officers under his command do.
During last month’s probable cause hearing, the court watched 17 minutes of body camera footage depicting Border Patrol’s interactions with the protesters on Oct. 3. The footage entered into evidence came from Agent Jason Epperson, a border patrol officer from Erie, PA stationed in Chicagoland to take part in “Operation Midway Blitz.”
Epperson’s body camera footage did not depict the alleged shoving match between Bovino and Sheridan.
Sheridan appeared onscreen about 16 minutes into the video wearing a crop top, mask and white helmet. He comes into view on the video after law enforcement had already cleared protestors onto a grassy area to one side of the road leading into the ICE facility.
Bovino is heard in the footage telling Sheridan and other protestors to “move back or you’re under arrest.” The video showed Epperson putting two hands on Sheridan before moving to arrest another protester.
The next time Sheridan appeared onscreen he was on the ground with Bovino on top of him, arresting him.
Wednesday Journal has reached out to Horwitz for comment on the case.
