One year after a Customs and Border Protection officer shot a pastor in the face with a chemical agent at an Oakland protest, the pastor has filed suit against the federal government.
According to a lawsuit filed on October 23, in the United States District Court of Northern California, the pastor, Jorge Bautista, seeks damages for claims of assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and the violation of his civil rights. According to an earlier federal tort claim that started the legal process, Bautista is seeking $5 million in damages. Bautista, an Oakland resident, serves as pastor of a United Church of Christ congregation in San Mateo.
“The force used by the United States, by and through their agents, was unreasonable
and excessive under the circumstances, including in light of the fact that Plaintiff was not committing any crime, and did not pose a threat,” the legal complaint reads.
The protest began after news reports
The protest began after news reports from The Oaklandside and other outlets confirmed that a federal immigration operation was about to unfold in the East Bay with the assistance of the Coast Guard’s Alameda base. In the morning hours of October 23, dozens of protesters showed up at the Oakland entrance to Coast Guard Island, at Dennison Street and Embarcadero; Bautista arrived to join a vigil organized by the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity. Around 7 a.m., a CBP convoy rolled in, with some officers stepping out of their vehicles at the bridge entrance and setting off stun grenades. Our reporters and photographers on the scene captured the moment when one CBP officer shot Bautista in the face with a chemical round at point blank range. The lawsuit against the government by Bautista attaches photos by Jerome Parmer and David Bacon that were published by The Oaklandside. The operation was ultimately called off.
Bautista is suing the government and an unnamed CBP agent under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which waives immunity for government officials if they act in a negligent manner, and under the No Kings Act, signed into law earlier this month by Gov. Gavin Newsom, which allows California residents to file lawsuits against federal agents for violating their constitutional rights.
Within days of the new law taking effect, several lawsuits that had previously been filed by residents against federal agents were amended to cite it. The law, Senate Bill 747, was co-authored by State Senator Scott Weiner, of San Francisco, and Aisha Wahab, who represents East Bay cities including Fremont, Pleasanton and Livermore.
The Civil Rights claim centers on the argument
The Civil Rights claim centers on the argument that the CBP officer, whose name is not known to the plaintiff, violated Bautista’s rights under the First and Fourth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The lawsuit claims Batista had the “right to be free from retaliation for exercising protected speech and conduct and the right to be free from unreasonable and excessive force.”
Bautista’s claims of physical and emotional harm center on the effects of the chemical agent, described in the suit as a noxious powder, and the projectile that held it. The complaint says that the amount of chemical agent shot into Bautista’s face caused his “eyes, nose, and throat immediately began to burn and he was quickly unable to breathe.”
“He suffered immediate and lasting pain,” the lawsuit says, and experienced “trouble breathing following the assault and he continues to experience severe trauma from the memory of the assault and his fear that he would die from asphyxia.”
In a conversation with The Oaklandside
In a conversation with The Oaklandside in the days after the event, Bautista told us that he was starting to recover but that he was still suffering from pain to his jaw from the projectile and was emotionally spent. He said he felt like the officers were aggressive, there to “hurt” people.
According to an analysis by Physicians for Human Rights, the pastor was shot from about three feet away by a 40-millimeter grenade launcher, which “discharges a plume of pulverized CS (tear gas compound) or OC (pepper agent) in a cloud that extends up to 30 feet in front of the shooter from the muzzle of the weapon.” The group called this a muzzle blast round and said it was used less frequently to police protests than other chemical irritants such as aerosol grenades and liquid sprays.
The submission of the lawsuit means that the U.S. government typically has 60 days to file an answer or a motion to dismiss. According to the lawsuit, the U.S. government did not respond “substantively” to Bautista’s earlier tort claim within the six months. That claim was submitted in January and the CBP acknowledged receipt on February 3. If there is no settlement, Bautista through his lawyer, the Oakland attorney EmilyRose Johns, has requested a jury trial.
The United States is responsible for the acts
“The United States is responsible for the acts and omissions of its agencies, including Customs and Border Protection, and its component agencies, and for the conduct of its employees acting within the course and scope of their employment,” the lawsuit argues.
Johns told The Oaklandside that the shooting of Bautista was a violation of “policy, the law, and human decency.”
“At a time where there is renewed concern over CBP and ICE’s violent and unlawful behavior in our community, holding these officers to account and protecting the community members who exercise their constitutional rights to protest their presence in our community could not be more important,” she said in an email.
The attack on Bautista occurred after surges of CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents occurred in other cities, including Los Angeles and Chicago. Federal officers in multiple cities have fired tear gas into protesters and have also, in some cases, shot at protesters with live ammunition, leading to the deaths or injuries of U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and immigrants. According to the New York Times, at least 23 people have been shot by federal immigration agents since the advent of the second Trump administration in January 2025, including those that have led to the deaths of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Joan Sebastian Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, Silverio Villegas Gonzalez in a Chicago suburb, and Ruben Ray Martinez in South Padre Island, Texas.
