LA protester charged with assaulting officer says he was the one attacked: ‘I thought I was going to die’

A father facing eight years in prison comes forward to the Guardian as lawyers and advocates say US prosecutors are criminalizing free speech and targeting people injured by officers

A Los Angeles protester charged with assaulting a federal officer at a recent demonstration against immigration raids says he himself was brutally attacked by law enforcement and is strongly rejecting prosecutors’ allegations.

Jose Manuel Mojica, a 30-year-old born in LA, spoke to the Guardian on Wednesday at his apartment, two days after he was released from jail and charged with a federal crime carrying up to eight years in prison.

The father of four said he had gone to a Saturday demonstration in Paramount, in southern LA county near his home, after hearing reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) indiscriminately targeting workers and neighbors in his predominantly Latino community.

When he tried to de-escalate tensions between federal agents and protesters, he said, a group of officers took him to the ground, held him in a chokehold and pushed him into the pavement, causing a large contusion on his nose and bruises all over his body. His lawyer provided cellphone footage that partially captured the scuffle.