Bodycam shows NYPD rushing man shot by ICE to hospital as DHS defends agents

Body camera video released Friday by the NYPD shows officers lifting Oscar Belgal, 28, into a police SUV and driving him to NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital after ICE agents shot him in the neck Thursday in Marble Hill. Federal officials defended the agents’ decision to fire that same day.

Belgal, a Dominican Republic native, is now held at a detention center outside New York state, said Marcos Charles, executive associate director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations. Charles gave no details on his injuries.

What the NYPD bodycam video shows

The recording opens with two officers pulling up to the scene. Before getting out of their vehicle, one says “he’s got a gun,” without making clear whom he meant. A federal agent carrying a rifle is visible. On the street, Belgal sits in handcuffs, bleeding from the neck, as ICE agents stand around him and bystanders scream. No weapon can be seen on Belgal, and the Department of Homeland Security’s account did not call him armed. Over the radio, officers and dispatchers discuss rushing an ambulance there. Rather than keep waiting, the officers take him to the hospital in their own vehicle.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said agents fired several times on West 225th Street by Marble Hill Avenue, with Belgal and his son, 5, inside the vehicle. Seven shell casings were recovered, she said, and the NYPD had no role in the operation and no officers present when the shots were fired. The boy was unharmed and is in a family member’s care.

DHS defends the Marble Hill shooting

According to Charles, agents boxed in Belgal’s car with their own vehicles. He said Belgal ignored orders to step out, then sped up, struck two ICE vehicles and drove toward other officers. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the agents were unaware a child was inside and had their body cameras switched on, but did not say whether that footage will be made public. The NYPD, like most large police forces, prohibits firing at moving vehicles, and the U.S. Justice Department has cautioned against it.

Mullin said agents pursued Belgal on the belief that he had “direct or indirect” knowledge of a recent shooting in which a Customs and Border Protection officer was shot. Tisch said Belgal has a single prior conviction in the city, for fourth-degree grand larceny, which brought five years’ probation.

Mullin put the blame on the city’s sanctuary policies. He said that during Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s talks with Trump, the president offered to release Belgal into NYPD custody and the mayor said no. The mayor’s office did not immediately comment. Attorneys with Make the Road New York filed an emergency habeas petition seeking his release, and a hearing was set for Friday afternoon.

Four people protesting outside the hospital after the shooting were taken into custody, police said, and each received a court appearance ticket on an obstructing governmental administration charge. Activists planned another protest for 5:30 p.m. Friday in Foley Square.