(RNS) — Last October, the Rev. Jorge Bautista was standing at the one-road entrance to a California military base, protesting the Trump administration’s deportation efforts, when he saw a masked federal agent approach, weapon raised. Moments later, the agent fired a pepper round from just a few feet away that struck Bautista in the face, engulfing the pastor’s head and neck in a plume of acrid yellow powder. Bloody and breathless, Bautista said he feared he could asphyxiate and die.
Today, the Oakland pastor says his injuries have healed, but the incident has left him with psychological trauma. On Jan. 27, he took legal action, filing a federal tort claim against the federal government, seeking $5 million in damages.
“Reverend Bautista was, by all accounts, not ‘disorderly,’ not ‘violent,’” EmilyRose Johns, his attorney, said in an interview with Religion News Service. “He was standing peacefully, unmoved, holding a sign.”
“There has to be accountability,” said Bautista in explaining why he is taking legal action.
Asked about the filing, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security didn’t address Bautista’s specific claims but said protesters were obstructing law enforcement.
“The First Amendment protects speech and peaceful assembly – not rioting,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
A pastor at College Heights Church in San Mateo, Bautista said he joined dozens of religious leaders and activists at the Oct. 23 demonstration to protest the arrival of U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at Coast Guard Island, a base near Oakland in the San Francisco Bay. When federal agen …