A confrontation outside a New York hospital turned violent on Thursday as police officers and demonstrators struggled following a shooting involving an ICE agent and an illegal alien with a criminal history.
Video captured Democratic Socialist of America congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier falling during the clash.
The protest followed a shooting involving ICE officers in the Marble Hill area earlier that afternoon.
The suspect, Oscar Belgal, was wounded in the neck during an attempted arrest, with his five-year-old son inside the vehicle.
The child was unharmed, while Belgal received medical treatment and was later placed in federal custody.
Federal officials say Belgal drove toward officers as he tried to evade arrest, prompting them to fire.
His lawyers have challenged his detention and called for an investigation into the shooting.
Demonstrators gathered near the hospital where Belgal was taken, and tensions with police escalated later in the evening, resulting in Chevalier being shoved to the ground by police.
Video of the scene showed an NYPD officer in a white shirt falling or being pushed to the ground seconds earlier.
Chevalier said an officer shoved her while she was attempting to calm the situation.
Her claim about what she was trying to do reflects her own account of the confrontation; the video appears to show her actively taking part in protests against the NYPD.
This is what happens when liberals undermine law and order.
NYC aftermath of a man being shot by ICE Darializa Avila Chevalier (she’s running for congress) is on the front lines and got knocked down as NYPD and protestors shoved and fought over police barricades https://t.co/8oaPzL4jo9— Sami Nathaniel (@NathanielSami) October 9, 2026
She also alleged that unmarked law enforcement vehicles struck protesters as officers cleared their path.
The candidate accused the New York Police Department of escalating violence rather than protecting residents.
Chevalier then directed particular criticism at Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch over her description of Belgal’s history.
She said Tisch sought to justify the shooting by discussing Belgal’s prior encounters with law enforcement.
Chevalier also demanded that Tisch step down and that the department’s Strategic Response Group be disbanded.
She then argued, falsely, that police conduct violated the spirit, if not the letter, of New York’s sanctuary policies.
Chevalier took to CNN following the incident to further gaslight about ICE officers while essentially claiming Belgal was the victim of “double jeopardy,” a legal and constitutional term that forbids a person from being charged and tried for the same crime twice.
Host Erin Burnett began, “DHS says that he has gang ties, two prior arrests on guns and weapons charges, that he was allegedly part of an investigation into a shooting of a Customs and Border Protection officer.
“Now, again, this is what they’re saying. So, you could take issue with it if you know more. But do you think a person who has that kind of criminal history — if that indeed ends up being the case — is a legitimate target for law enforcement to remove from the country if he’s a non-citizen?” she asked.
“That is an issue of the criminal courts, right?” Chjevalier began.
“If — we have a criminal justice system in this country, and it does not make sense to me that we would subject somebody to the double jeopardy of being tried by our criminal courts and then, again, subjected to the cruelty of what we just saw yesterday, by another law enforcement agency like ICE,” she claimed.
“The additional punishment being here, of course, deportation and permanent separation from your family.”
Polling consistently shows that most Americans support ICE, the removal of illegal aliens from the country, and police in general, including most Democrats, making Chevalier’s position an outlier.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
