Santa Maria Man Says He Was Assaulted and Hospitalized By Federal Agents Wednesday

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – An adult student at Santa Maria High is recovering from surgery after he was stopped and had his wrist broken by two people he believes were federal agents Wednesday morning.

Erik Zepeda, 20, is a student on an individualized education program who was walking to classes around 6:45 a.m. Wednesday morning.

He shared with Your News Channel Thursday that two people wearing uniforms tackled him to the ground and then physically restrained his wrists without warning before asking three questions: his name, his date of birth, and his citizenship status.

The local Santa Maria man answered the agents verbally while restrained in their vehicle and, notably, Zepeda had legal identification confirming all of those answers in his wallet during his detention, but agents never asked to see his identification he told Your News Channel.

He shared that the the people who assaulted him were wearing uniforms that said "POLICE" and "ICE", but he did not see and was not shown a badge nor did they identify themselves during the incident.

Eventually, Zepeda was let go at the intersection of Broadway and Enos Drive around 7:20 a.m. and he walked to campus where he was picked up by an ambulance and taken to a local hospital for surgery on his broken wrist he explained.

Local police officers met him at the hospital and he provided a statement about what happened as part of an official police report he stated to Your News Channel.

The Santa Maria Police Department confirmed that a police report was filed Wednesday that matched the details Zepeda provided to Your News Channel Thursday.

The local law enforcement agency added it was still working to confirm that the people who detained the 20-year-old were federal agents and that their Department did not receive warnings that federal agents would be conducting operations in the area before or after the incident.

Your News Channel reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District for confirmation and more information and their respective responses will be added to this article when they are received.