A federal jury on Friday acquitted an East Bay man of assaulting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer during a protest outside the agency’s San Francisco office last year.
Caleb Alexander Ranney, of Pittsburg, was arrested on Aug. 8, 2025, during a protest against ICE outside its offices at 630 Sansome St. He faced misdemeanor charges of assaulting a federal agent and damaging federal property, which carried a maximum sentence of two years in prison.
Video from several angles of the protest and alleged assault was central to the weeklong trial, according to reports from KQED. Footage showed protesters banging on a garage door as federal agents escorted two vans out of the building. The door came off its track, and an agent fired pepper balls through it, sending protesters running across the street, according to authorities.
Moments later, footage showed agents came back outside through another entrance. As one agent picked up a protester’s backpack, Ranney ran back and pushed ICE Officer Joe Love, according to court records. Agents tackled and detained Ranney and another protester who tried to intervene.
Assistant Federal Public Defender Angela Chuang, in the case’s closing arguments Friday, argued that federal agents had escalated the confrontation.
“To a hammer, everything is a nail,” Chuang said, according to KQED. “To an ICE agent, every protester is a violent threat.”
Chuang said in court that the agents’ duties had ended after the vans left and that Ranney returned only after an agent picked up a protester’s backpack.
“Once the garage closed, that could have been the end of it,” she said, according to KQED. “Something that wouldn’t even get a yellow card in a soccer game … they’re trying to turn into a federal crime.”
The defense also pointed to the actions of Federal Protective Service Inspector Stephen Glumaz, who allegedly fired pepper balls into the crowd shortly before the alleged assault, according to KQED…