A Rockingham County woman whose aggressive arrest by the Department of Homeland Security was captured on video in October has reached an agreement with the government that will dismiss her resisting arrest charge after three months. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
The woman's arrest just north of Harrisonburg in late October was videotaped by her teen daughter, who was a passenger in the car when they were pulled over by Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Scott Stein. After a brief conversation, Stein grabbed the woman and pinned her on the ground in the northbound travel lane of Route 11. The video quickly circulated on social media. A few days later, the government charged her with a federal misdemeanor of forcibly resisting the arrest.
WMRA has agreed to withhold the woman’s name to protect her privacy. She is originally from Honduras.
After a preliminary hearing in the federal courthouse in Charlottesville, the woman was released to await trial, which was scheduled to begin this month. But the defense and federal government reached an agreement in late February for the woman to complete a pretrial diversion program instead. Under the terms of the agreement, she will continue reporting to the U.S. Probation Office for three months, and if she remains out of trouble during that time, the charge will be dismissed.
The agreement notes that she does not admit guilt nor that the government has facts sufficient to reach a conviction.
The woman's defense attorney, Aaron Cook, told WMRA "I'm pleased that we were able to reach this disposition that won't negatively impact my client as she moves forward with her immigration proceedings."
