BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – A federal judge has acquitted an undocumented man accused of intentionally ramming a vehicle into federal immigration agents during an enforcement operation in Baton Rouge, ruling the government’s case was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Evodio Merida-Tavera was charged in a federal indictment with intentionally assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating and interfering with two United States Border Patrol agents. He faced nearly two decades in prison if convicted.
The incident occurred Dec. 11, 2025, in a parking lot behind a business off Bluebonnet Boulevard. Surveillance video showed Merida-Tavera driving a tan coupe and pulling into a parking spot when an SUV carrying federal agents pulled behind him. Merida-Tavera attempted to back up and struck the SUV. ICE agents then exited the vehicle and broke out his window. The operation was called “Catahoula Crunch.”
Defense attorneys said Merida-Tavera was not the intended target of immigration agents at the time of the stop…