A 28-year-old man died Tuesday after he was struck by a semi trailer truck while fleeing from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on State Road 16 near a gas station in Florida. The man was one of four people who fled on foot during an encounter with ICE and Homeland Security Investigations agents in the parking lot of a local gas station and convenience store. Florida Highway Patrol officials confirmed they were not involved in the incident but have opened an investigation into the death. According to the state highway patrol, the man ran across State Road 16 and into the path of the tractor trailer. He was struck in the right lane and sustained fatal injuries on scene.
Details about the victim, including his name, nationality and immigration status, were not immediately available. ICE and the Department of Homeland Security have not yet commented on the incident. The state highway patrol said in a statement to Scripps News that during the encounter, four occupants of a vehicle fled on foot, with one running across the highway and into the path of the oncoming truck.
The death comes as ICE is under increasing scrutiny for multiple fatal encounters nationwide. Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian man living in Maine, was fatally shot by ICE agents Monday during a traffic stop. Senator Angus King said Guerrero was not the target of an immigration operation. Days earlier, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was fatally wounded during a traffic stop involving ICE in Houston. Like the shooting in Maine, Salgado Araujo was not the person ICE was trying to find.
The Trump administration ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to pause most traffic stops on Tuesday following the fatal incidents. Florida Highway Patrol officials have confirmed their investigation into the State Road 16 death remains ongoing. The incident marks the latest in a series of deadly encounters involving ICE agents that have drawn attention to the agency's enforcement tactics. The pause on traffic stops comes as federal immigration enforcement operations continue under increased public and political scrutiny.