Massachusetts lawyer group files lawsuit alleging car window was shattered by ICE officers during wrongful arrest with excessive force

Lawyers for Civil Rights filed a federal lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts on behalf of a Chelsea family who allege that their car window was shattered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers during an arrest on Mother’s Day in front of their three young children. The lawsuit seeks damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act for excessive force, wrongful arrest, assault, and the “lasting trauma inflicted on the family after federal agents violently removed a father from the family vehicle while they were on their way to church.” 

The complaint alleges that “on Sunday, May 11, 2025, Kenia Guerrero, a U.S. citizen, was following the family’s Sabbath routine and driving to church with her husband, Daniel Flores Martinez, and their three young children. Suddenly, multiple unmarked cars surrounded and blocked the car. Masked officers swarmed the vehicle, demanded identification and—without ever identifying themselves or producing a warrant—smashed the passenger side car window with a weapon, reached into the car to open the door, and forcibly dragged Mr. Flores out onto the street. Glass shattered inside the vehicle onto the distressed children—one of whom is gravely disabled with epilepsy, hydrocephalus, and cerebral palsy.”

“Officers violently slammed Mr. Flores to the ground and arrested him without explanation, while his wife and children screamed and cried in terror. Mrs. Guerrero was also forcibly held by police in front of her children.  The family was left with no information about why Mr. Flores was arrested or where he was being taken. It was only later that Mrs. Guerrero confirmed that the officers were from ICE and that Mr. Flores had been taken to immigration detention.” 

LCR states that “the incident, which unfolded in mere minutes, stands as a stark example of the unwarranted and unnecessarily cruel enforcement actions carried out by ICE across the country. With this lawsuit, the Guerrero family seeks not only accountability but also concrete safeguards to prevent such abuses from recurring in immigrant communities across Massachusetts and beyond.”

“That morning, we were getting ready to celebrate Mother’s Day. By afternoon, my children were crying, asking why masked men broke into our car and took their father away,” said Kenia Guerrero. “I told them I didn’t know. No mother should ever have to say that. This wasn’t justice. This was violence. And my children will never forget what they saw.” 

“There is no justification for what happened to the Guerrero family,” said Mirian Albert, Senior Attorney at Lawyers for Civil Rights. “This was not enforcement. It was state-sanctioned cruelty, unleashed on a family without warning, without cause, and without conscience. The government must answer for the trauma it inflicts on children,” she added.  

“A family was shattered in minutes, and the aftershocks will last a lifetime. We are in court to demand that the federal government be held accountable, and to ensure that no other family has to endure this kind of trauma in the name of immigration enforcement,” said Oren Sellstrom, Litigation Director of Lawyers for Civil Rights.

Shortly after the incident, LCR filed an administrative complaint, a required precursor for litigation, on behalf of the family with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE. Under the FTCA, once six months have elapsed without a response, a lawsuit may be filed in federal court. LCR is pursuing a number of other similar matters, which are in the administrative complaint period and awaiting the six-month mark for litigation.

The case is Guerrero v. United States, Docket No. 26-CV-11126 (D. Mass.). 

The complaint is available here.