A Columbus mother says what started as a run to a shopping center ended with her car getting hosed down with pepper spray by two Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents while her three daughters were inside. Video of the December encounter shows the agents’ vehicle pulling up alongside her moving car and a burst of spray hitting the driver’s window as they pass, leaving the interior coated in orange residue and the children coughing. The mother and her attorney say Columbus police closed their investigation, and they now want the case reopened and sent to the Department of Homeland Security for a closer look. The family has hired lawyer Grant Carpenter to press for further action.
The footage, first reported by WIPROUD, shows two agents pull up near a Dollar Tree at Easton Town Center, drive alongside the mother’s car and spray as they roll past; the video then shows them flip on emergency lights and pull away. Inside the car were three girls, ages 18, 15 and 11, who were later seen coughing and crying in images shared with reporters, with the seats and dashboard streaked in orange.
ICE’s account
In a statement included in the reporting, ICE said officers “deployed pepper spray to clear a path to exit the Dollar Tree after being blocked from leaving” and that “anti-ICE agitators targeted, followed and verbally harassed off-duty ICE officers,” according to WIPROUD. The mother told reporters she followed the agents for about a half mile before stopping when their vehicle began weaving through traffic on I‑270 northbound, and photos show the interior of her car covered in orange residue. Carpenter, the family’s attorney, told reporters the mother “was seated and not threatening anyone” and said they want Columbus police to reopen the case and for DHS to investigate the officers’ conduct.
Local context
The incident is unfolding against a backdrop of heightened ICE activity in central Ohio that local outlets reported in December as part of a broader push that drew protests and sharp scrutiny of enforcement tactics, according to The Columbus Dispatch. Officials and community groups have traded competing accounts over how agents operate in public spaces and what that means for the safety of bystanders as demonstrations have spread across the state.
Legal and policy questions
Advocates say the video raises fresh questions about when and how federal agents use chemical irritants on people inside vehicles, a practice governed by ICE’s firearms and use-of-force directive. That policy says officers should “use force only when no reasonably effective, safe, and feasible alternative appears to exist” and should rely on de-escalation when possible. ICE Directive 19009.3 sets that standard, and national reporting has described similar pepper-spray incidents in other cities in recent months. The Associated Press and local outlets say those confrontations have helped fuel calls for independent reviews of ICE use-of-force cases.
The family says it will push Columbus police to reopen their probe and wants the DHS Office of Inspector General to examine the conduct of the officers involved. Lawmakers and advocates have already asked federal watchdogs to fast-track reviews of ICE use-of-force incidents, and those prior requests could add pressure for an independent inquiry; Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s office and others have circulated letters urging the DHS inspector general to move quickly. Carpenter says the family will keep pushing until an outside review determines whether the agents’ actions were lawful and consistent with ICE policy…