ICE agent charged with assault says he feared for his safety in Twin Cities’ highway encounter

Defense attorney Ryan Pacyga, left, speaks to reporters following the first court appearance of ICE Agent Gregory D. Morgan Jr. on May 22.Matt Sepic | MPR NewsPlayListenICE agent charged with assault says he feared for his safety in highway encounterCreate an account or log in to save stories.

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ShareX (twitter.com)FacebookMailAn ICE agent charged with assault in an alleged road rage incident testified in court Tuesday that he feared for his safety during an encounter with another driver on a Twin Cities highway.

Agent Gregory D. Morgan Jr. told U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel that he displayed his service weapon but did not point it at a couple in a Cadillac that had cut him off in traffic on Feb. 5.

“There was no reason for me to point the weapon at him. It was a defensive posture,” Morgan testified during an evidentiary hearing in a bid to move his case from Hennepin County to federal court.

In April, County Attorney Mary Moriarty charged Morgan, 35, with felony assault. Moriarty alleges that Morgan pointed his weapon at the couple along Hwy. 62, also known as the Crosstown Highway.

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Morgan said he and fellow ICE agent Myles Codner were in a rented Ford SUV without any police markings, lights or other equipment, which they had driven to Minnesota from the Washington, D.C., area in late January after ICE assigned them to take part in what the Trump Administration dubbed Operation Metro Surge.

In response to questions from defense attorney Ryan Pacyga, Morgan recounted he did not realize he was driving on the shoulder while heading back to their base near the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

“I didn’t know it wasn’t a lane,” Morgan said. “Where I’m from, shoulders are much smaller.”

On MnDOT traffic camera video that Pacyga played in the courtroom, a white Cadillac sedan is seen twice crossing the edge line onto the shoulder in an apparent attempt to prevent Morgan from cutting in traffic.

“The vehicle brake-checked me, and I almost smashed into it. I was inches away,” Morgan added.

The video shows Morgan’s SUV pulling up alongside the Cadillac. At that point, Morgan said that he unholstered his Glock 9mm pistol for about five seconds and shouted, “Police! Back off!”

Morgan said that his intent was to “de-escalate” the situation so no one on the highway would get hurt. There were no injuries reported, and after the incident both vehicles continued on their way.

When she initially announced the charges, Moriarty said that the Cadillac’s driver and passenger were not part of any organized ICE protests and had no idea that Morgan was an agent.

On Friday, an attorney for the couple said they would exercise their Fifth Amendment rights and not answer questions in court after the Justice Department indicated in a July filing that they could face charges of impeding a federal officer. Brasel excused them from testifying.

The man and woman are identified only by their initials in court documents per the order of a Hennepin County judge. Pacyga argued they should be identified by name because Morgan has the constitutional right to confront his accusers.

During several hours on the witness stand, Morgan said the incident with the Cadillac happened after a stressful day during which he and Codner unsuccessfully sought out multiple “targets” for immigration arrest and were also harassed by the driver of a Jeep Cherokee.

Morgan said they were ordered to drive to two locations where fellow agents reported being in distress after being surrounded by anti-ICE protesters.

In response to Pacyga’s questions, Morgan said when he started his nine-day assignment in Minnesota, his superiors warned him demonstrations against ICE’s presence were increasing and that “local law enforcement is not helping us.”

“We were threatened the whole time here,” Morgan said. “It was really overwhelming. Something I hadn’t experienced before.”

Morgan briefly broke down in tears when he said that he had to take his 10-year-old daughter out of school after being doxed online.

“I’ve never been called a racial slur in my life,” said Morgan, who is Black. “This was the first time that this happened."

The agent, who worked as a police officer for the Smithsonian Institution before joining ICE, said he did not want to take part in Operation Metro Surge and that he was doing a job he “was forced to do.”

Pacyga and Justice Department attorneys contend that the case belongs in federal court, not Hennepin County court, because Morgan was acting in his capacity as an ICE agent during his encounter with the Cadillac.

Brasel has yet to rule on the request, and it’s unclear when the case might go to trial.

Morgan was the first federal agent charged in connection with Operation Metro Surge, but he’s not the only one.

Agent Christian Castro faces similar state charges of assault for firing through a closed door and wounding a man in north Minneapolis on Jan. 14 and federal charges for allegedly lying to the FBI about what happened.

There’s no indication if or when the agents who killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti might face criminal charges.

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