Judge rebuffs attempt to hide identity of ICE officer in Fitchburg arrest

Following multiple unsuccessful motions by the federal government to conceal the identity of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer accused in a lawsuit of strangling a Fitchburg man unconscious in November, the officer has been named and summoned to court.

David Jackson, who is identified in court documents as an acting supervisory detention and deportation officer, was served an amended complaint by lawyers for Carlos Sebastian Zapata Rivera on April 10.

Jackson is being sued in his individual capacity. It is unclear if he has sought legal counsel.

In denying a motion that would have allowed Jackson to remain anonymous and would have forced the destruction of court documents following the case’s conclusion, U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman called the government’s request “wildly overbroad.”

The office of U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley, who filed the protective order, despite not being a party in the lawsuit, did not immediatley respond to a request for comment.

Jackson was involved in the arrest of Juliana Ojeda-Montoya, the wife of plaintiff Zapata Rivera. During the Nov. 6 arrest in Fitchburg, the officer allegedly “used an unlawful carotid restraint” on Zapata Rivera, restricting blood flow and triggering seizure-like movements, court documents say.

Zapata Rivera’s legal team, which consists of lawyers from the ACLU of Massachusetts and the Boston-based firm Todd & Weld, also requested in the amended complaint a trial by jury on all claims, including that the restraint was a form of deadly force and that Jackson violated the plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment rights.

The Department of Homeland Security has denied the allegations, saying that after the incident Zapata Rivera, an Ecuadorian national who had been authorized to work in the United States while he pursued an asylum claim, displayed “absolutely no signs of medical concerns.”

Lawyers for Zapata Rivera’s initially filed the lawsuit in December against an “Unknown Federal Agent John Doe,” saying that during and after the encounter he had taken “affirmative steps to conceal his identity.” Foley’s office also refused to name the officer.

“The agent wore a face covering. He did not wear a uniform. He did not wear a name tag on his body armor or other equipment. The agency’s written arrest narrative – which the agent appears to have approved – largely refers to the agents involved by their initials,” lawyers, including Jessie J. Rossman and Daniel L. McFadden with the ACLU, wrote in a January motion.

Then in a move Zapata Rivera’s lawyers called “extraordinary, unprecedented and contrary to the public interest,” Foley’s office filed a February motion requesting the officer remain anonymous during court proceedings.

The government admitted that its involvement was “unusual,” but argued that the public release of the officer’s name would subject him to “unwarranted public scrutiny and media attention.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Olivia Benjamin said in the motion that someone at the scene had threatened to harm Jackson and his children and that the officer was later the subject of a doxing campaign.

When Guzman denied the motion in March, Benjamin filed a second near-identical motion for a protective order, which Guzman also denied.

Reporting by Rachel Gow, Worcester Telegram & Gazette / Telegram & Gazette

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