North Hollywood man walks his dogs in the morning. Then he watches ICE agents arrest a person, and one of them suddenly points a gun at his face

A North Hollywood resident was apparently out walking two dogs on Friday morning when he came across an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation underway on the sidewalk. The incident took place just before 8:30 a.m. Damari Butler, who filmed the scene from his balcony, later described what he saw to the Los Angeles Times.

Butler said he was outside when two masked agents suddenly tackled a man nearby. He reported that the agents did not ask for a name or any form of identification first. “There was no asking his name, no ID, nothing. They just grabbed him,” Butler recalled.

Video of the encounter begins with the agents already holding the man they had taken into custody. At the same time, the bystander with the two dogs remains on the sidewalk close by. Within seconds, a third masked agent moves toward him.

Masked agent shoves bystander into bush and aims gun at his face

The third agent ordered the bystander to back away and appeared to shift a can of pepper spray out of reach, according to Butler. He then pushed the man into a bush and pointed a gun directly at his face while the dogs barked. The bystander was released shortly afterward and yelled, “What the f–k is wrong with you?”

The agents stayed in the street with the handcuffed man, who continued to shout. Voices from nearby asked whether anyone had captured the moment on video. The agents lifted the detained man by his arms and legs as they tried to place him inside a waiting SUV.

While that was happening, the man with the dogs repeatedly asked if someone had noted the vehicle’s license plate. A second SUV arrived at the scene. He then shouted, “They’re hurting him! They’re hurting him!”  

One of the masked agents ran after the bystander as he moved away while still yelling. The video returns to the group of agents, who appear to struggle as they attempt to get the handcuffed man into the car. He kept screaming, and one officer appeared to draw a taser.

The footage ends with four officers standing over the man while people nearby continue to scream. Authorities have not released the name of the person who was detained or the reason for the arrest. He was the only individual taken into custody during the operation.

The Daily Mail reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment on the incident. The event occurred during the Trump administration’s stepped-up immigration enforcement. The number of illegal crossings at the southern border had risen to record levels under President Joe Biden before dropping after Trump took office.

Some of the methods used by ICE and Department of Homeland Security agents have drawn criticism from different sides. In another video, a New Jersey man asked ICE to check his ID before agents detained him anyway.  Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem left her position after two people, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, were fatally shot in Minneapolis. This week the federal government also stated that ICE and DHS agents will not serve as monitors at polling places for Tuesday’s midterms.

In a court filing on Thursday, the Justice Department said its election monitors will not perform law-enforcement duties, will not carry firearms, and will mainly observe and take notes. The department added that the monitors have been trained not to interfere with voting and to follow state and local rules. The NAACP has filed suit arguing that the administration’s approach constitutes voter intimidation. Recent polls have indicated that Republicans could lose control of the House and possibly the Senate.