ICE agent pointed gun at dog walker during North Hollywood arrest

A cell phone video captured on Friday morning at 8:20 a.m. shows an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent aiming a handgun directly at the face of a man walking his dogs on Ostego Street in North Hollywood. The footage, shared with NBC Los Angeles, documents a chaotic scene in which federal officers tackled a man on the sidewalk into a patch of bushes before detaining him.

Damari Butler, a resident who filmed the incident from his fifth-floor balcony, stated that he heard a bang before seeing two agents subdue the man. He noted that the officers did not request identification or speak to the individual before grabbing him. Rocio Guiterrez, another neighbor who emerged after hearing the noise, described the man as entering a state of panic while being pinned to the ground.

Butler identified the man with the dogs as a bystander who intervened after seeing the struggle. According to Butler, a second agent emerged from the bushes and placed a gun against the dog walker's face. Guiterrez recalled that the man yelled at the agents, questioning their actions.

Following the initial confrontation, the video shows the dog walker moving into the street to pick up an unidentified item from the pavement. An agent then rushed toward him and deployed what appeared to be a pepper spray canister. The man fled the scene before agents placed their primary detainee into one of their vehicles. The neighbors stated they did not know the man taken into custody.

Both witnesses emphasized that the agents were wearing masks. Butler expressed concern over the visual, noting that his own son walks in the mornings and that the sight was worrisome for the neighborhood. The incident occurred in a residential area that residents described as usually quiet.

The Department of Homeland Security did not provide an immediate response to inquiries regarding the arrest or the use of force. It remains unclear where the detained man was taken or what specific legal basis was cited for the stop. The moments captured by Butler’s phone do not show the events immediately preceding the tackle or the full duration of the detention.

In 2025, California enacted a law making it the first state to prohibit most law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, from covering their faces during official duties. A federal judge subsequently blocked the implementation of that ban, ruling instead that officers must clearly identify themselves, their agency, and their badge number when conducting business.