DURANGO, COLORADO — Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Nicholas Rice has been charged with third-degree assault and criminal mischief in connection with his actions against a protester during a demonstration in Durango, Colorado, in October. Court documents allege that Rice caused bodily injury to Anne Francesca "Franci" Stagi, a 57-year-old retired hypnotherapist.

Multiple videos show a masked federal agent seizing Stagi by the neck and pulling her across a street during the protest. She said she was put in a chokehold by the agent. The misdemeanor assault charge carries a maximum sentence of just under a year in jail. Court documents do not list any attorney as representing Rice.

Protesters had gathered outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Durango in late October, after ICE on October 27 detained three Colombian asylum-seekers — a man and two children — while they were on their way to school in Durango.

Stagi said she reached for the agent's shoulder to get his attention, and that he then grabbed her by the hair, put her neck in the crook of his arm, carried her across the street by her head, and threw her down an embankment next to the street. She said she still experiences pain in her arm during normal everyday activities, such as putting on her jacket. "It did open my eyes to how quickly I can be under someone else's control, and it's frightening," she said.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigations launched an investigation into Rice's actions at the request of Durango Police Department Chief Brice Current. Colorado prohibits or severely limits the use of chokeholds and neck restraints by police officers.

Federal law enforcement officers have broad legal protections when acting in the course of their official duties, and immunity provisions under the U.S. Constitution and federal law limit the reach of local authorities in prosecuting federal agents. The Justice Department has opposed state efforts to arrest or prosecute federal agents. "Arrests of federal officers performing their duties would be illegal and futile," U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said that "Federal officers acting in the course of their duties can only be investigated by other Federal agencies."