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Worcester city councilor charged with assaulting police officer after chaotic ICE arrest
Etel Haxhiaj is facing a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery on a police officer and interfering with a police officer. Body camera footage released by the city does not appear to show the councilor striking an officer.
The Worcester City Councilor who was part of the crowd that surrounded federal immigration agents during an arrest last month has been charged with assault and battery on a police officer, according to court records.
District 5 City Councilor Etel Haxhiaj is facing a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery on a police officer and interfering with a police officer, according to court records filed Wednesday in Worcester District Court.
Haxhiaj was one of multiple neighbors and residents who were at Eureka Street when Rosane Ferreira de Oliveira, a Brazilian national, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
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The chaotic incident, in which Worcester police arrested two people, sparked multiple protests in Worcester. One of the arrested was a local candidate for Worcester School Committee, and the other was the teen daughter of Ferreira de Oliveira.
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Haxhiaj, who is an immigrant, defended her actions in a Facebook post Wednesday evening, saying “I did the humane thing to do in this situation, nothing more, nothing less.” She noted that it’s “frustrating” to be charged.
In body camera footage released by the Worcester Police Department, multiple neighbors can be seen confronting police and federal agents, while Ferreira de Oliveira’s daughters cry and take turns holding a young infant. Haxhiaj is seen holding the teen girl before the girl was arrested, while the teen holds onto the sideview mirror of the vehicle where ICE put her mother.
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Haxhiaj is accused of “striking” Worcester Police officer Shauna McGuirk in the chest as the officer tried to escort the councilor away from the ICE vehicle, according to a complaint filed by police in court. McGuirk’s body camera footage was one of the three videos released after the incident.
“Haxhiaj was … pulling the restraints of the arrested as they attempted to leave the area,” the complaint read. “Haxhiaj continued to obstruct the federal officers as they attempted to leave the area” as she held onto the side mirror of the vehicle transporting Ferreira de Oliveira, police said.
As McGuirk arrested Ferreira de Oliveira’s teen daughter, “Haxhiaj approached P.O. McGuirk from the side and pulled at (her) arm,” according to the complaint. The City of Worcester requested the charges against the teen girl be dropped shortly after the incident.
In the body camera footage, it doesn’t appear that Haxhiaj touches McGuirk during the arrest of the teen girl. In other footage, the councilor is seen pleading with officers to let the girl go, and they ask her to step back and push her away. Haxhiaj then backs out of the frame and continues to ask police to let her go.
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Earlier in McGuirk’s body camera footage, the officer appears to grab and move Haxhiaj out of the way of the ICE vehicle.
On her personal Facebook, Haxhiaj said “I will see WPD in court.”
“Protecting the most vulnerable should not lead to being targeted and vilified. And working to improve policing in our city by calling for oversight and accountability should not provoke political grandstanding and attacks,” she wrote. “I look forward to responding to these charges in court.”
Shortly after the incident on Eureka Street, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley released a pointed statement calling interference with ICE operations “disturbing, to say the least.” The Department of Homeland Security called Haxhiaj out by name, saying the councilor “pulled a political stunt and incited chaos.”
“This conduct poses significant public and officer safety risks. It is conduct that should be vilified rather than glorified,” Foley said at the time. “I will not stand idly by if any public official, public safety officer, organization or private citizen acts in a manner that criminally obstructs or impedes ICE operations.”
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