A local trial date has been scheduled for a Longview man accused of assaulting a 46-year-old federal immigration officer during the arrest of another man earlier this month in a parking lot of The Store & Deli off Longview's Oregon Way.
Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge Thad Scudder scheduled the next slate of hearings for Ramon Tovar Jimenez, 35, of Longview, with a potential trial starting on Feb. 23.
Tovar Jimenez, who pleaded not guilty to the third-degree assault charge on Dec. 8, has a pre-trial hearing on Jan. 26.
No formal federal charges had been filed for him as of Friday afternoon, but according to Longview police's arresting report, the United States Marshals Service advised the U.S District Attorney's Office to file charges.
His passenger, Valentin Martinez Tovar, 20, was taken by federal immigration officers and placed in the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. As of this week, his name does not appear in the online detainee location website.
A relative told The Daily News that Martinez Tovar is not a legal resident but has no criminal history.
According to the Longview police report, a person called 911 around 6:30 a.m., on Dec. 1, to report a possible assault in progress and that people were pretending to be the police outside The Store & Deli, located at 447 Oregon Way.
When the Longview police arrived, officers noticed three law enforcement agents surrounding a person already in handcuffs, with Tovar Jimenez seated in the back of a vehicle.
A federal immigration officer told the police that Tovar Jimenez grabbed him by the head, pulled him back, and began striking him with his knees and elbows.
The agent said he was hit in the body, and an elbow struck his face.
He told Longview police he tasted blood in his mouth and experienced tissue damage, while a Longview officer reports seeing redness and irritation on the inside of his lips and gums, according to the report.
