MINNEAPOLIS – A Minneapolis couple says that after inadvertently getting caught between protesters and immigration officers this week, an officer rolled a tear gas canister under their family’s SUV, flooding the vehicle with toxic fumes that left them and several of their six children, including an infant, in need of hospital treatment.
The Jackson family's ordeal Wednesday shows how people in and around the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are getting swept up in the Trump administration's largest crackdown to date, even if they aren't among the many locals who have been demonstrating against the operation.
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Destiny Jackson, 26, said the family was driving home from her middle schooler’s basketball game when they reached a blocked-off street in north Minneapolis near where a federal officer had shot a man in the leg after federal authorities say he was attacked while trying to make an arrest.
Jackson said people were just standing around and it seemed relatively peaceful, so they stopped to ask what was happening. She then noticed her mother on the street and said she spent 20-30 minutes trying to persuade her to leave.
“I was just trying to get her to go home,” Jackson said. “I’ve only seen these things on TV. Some end well, some don’t.”
The situation grew more tense, she said. She could hear flash-bang grenades up the street and smoke was in the air. With protesters filling the street around them, the family started to drive away but came upon federal officers, who told them to leave, she said.
Jackson said they waited until the officers walked past, knowing that an officer shot and killed Renee Good while she was in her vehicle. Jackson said she thought that was her family's opening to leave, but an officer then rolled the tear gas canister under their SUV.
She said she heard a boom and the car's airbags deployed. The canister flooded the family's vehicle with noxious gas. Jackson said her kids were crying and screaming that they couldn’t breathe, so she rushed to unlock the doors and get them out. She said her 6-month-old son's eyes were closed and he wasn't moving.
First responders received reports of an infant experiencing respiratory distress, and local authorities said they worked through the crowds of people to respond. The fire department said the infant was breathing and stable but in serious condition before he was taken to the hospital.
Jackson said she, her husband and three of the kids received hospital treatment, including the infant, a 7-year-old and an 11-year-old.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said officers were responding to crowds of “rioters and agitators” and did not target the Jackson family or "their innocent children.”
Since posting online about her family’s ordeal, Jackson said she’s received frightening threats and hateful messages.
“I try not to pay attention to the negative. I know what was going on. I know what my intentions were,” she said. “I was on my way home.”
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Fingerhut reported from Des Moines, Iowa.