The FBI has charged Damilola Bamigboye, a 24-year-old Nigerian, to court for resisting arrest and abducting an agent of the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, based on documents reviewed by Peoples Gazette.
Mr Bamigboye encountered HSI agents surveilling him for overstaying his student visa, and what was supposed to be a routine arrest spiralled into a hostage situation involving a federal officer on December 10. He was charged alongside Rekeya Frazier, an accomplice involved in the abduction.
Last Wednesday, an undisclosed number of agents inside a parked vehicle conducted surveillance on Mr Bamigboye’s apartment in Plymouth, Minnesota. Although the vehicle was unmarked, it had sirens and lights.
They were monitoring the suspect’s Kia Optima vehicle when an SUV Jeep pulled up and parked right next to the Kia. Agents immediately identified Mr Bamigboye as the front-seat passenger and a lady believed to be his girlfriend as the driver.
Mr Bamigboye, according to the FBI, must have noticed the law enforcement’s Ford Xplora because he then wore a mask to obscure his face. He soon began to move items from the front seat to the back. Ms Frazier alighted but stood near the driver’s seat.
The HSI agents simultaneously exited their vehicle and approached the suspect, flashing their badges and identifying themselves as law enforcement. But Mr Bamigboye, who was then in the back seat, appeared uncooperative after learning they wanted to discuss his immigration status.
The FBI said Mr Bamigboye immediately grabbed the driver’s headrest and instructed Ms Frazier to drive.
“He yelled at Frazier, ‘Drive! Drive! Drive! Get in the car and drive now’, or words to that effect,” FBI Special Agent Terry Getsch wrote in a report to David Schultz, U.S. magistrate judge, district of Minnesota.
Ms Frazier obeyed. One agent hopped into the front seat and tried to stop her from starting the ignition. A second agent wrestled to pull Mr Bamigboye from the backseat and drag him out of the vehicle.
Even as the struggle intensified, Ms Frazier managed to start the car, and the second agent “was forced to jump out of the Jeep to avoid being hit”. The Jeep jerked forward, slamming the front door shut with the first agent still inside.
“Agent 1 was now being involuntarily carried in the Jeep as it drove,” the FBI wrote.
The agent demanded that Ms Frazier stop the vehicle and explained her decision to continue driving would further complicate matters. He struggled to park the Jeep, but Ms Frazier pushed his hand away and threatened to “crash the car”. She also said she would drop him off at a police station.
The agent, unfamiliar with that terrain, feared he was being kidnapped.
“Agent 1 is assigned to another HSI office and is not familiar with Minnesota (he is on temporary detail for an operation). He is not familiar with that area and had no idea where they were going. He was in fear that he was being abducted,” the FBI said.
Meanwhile, the Ford Xplora with the initial officers dispatched to surveil and arrest Mr Bamigboye, was in hot pursuit of the Jeep, blaring sirens and lights.
Mr Bamigboye called 911 to report the matter while Agent 1 screamed that he was a federal agent on official duty. He also called the HSI operations for guidance.
He later drew his firearm and ordered Ms Frazier to stop the car, but she refused.
Ms Frazier eventually parked the car in front of the New Hope Police Department, about two miles away from Mr Bamigboye’s residence.
As the Jeep slowed, readying to park, Mr Bamigboye jumped out and dashed into a nearby Hy-vee grocery store. An agent ran after him.
He was later arrested at the back of the store. Ms Frazier, on the other hand, was giving the agents a hard time by refusing to get out of the Jeep. Eventually, uniformed police officers arrived at the scene and took her into custody.
Mr Bamigboye initially declined to speak to the FBI but obliged after rights advisement and waiver. He denied that the officers identified themselves with their badges.
He also admitted wrestling with a federal agent to evade arrest and instructing Ms Frazier to drive away from his apartment. He blamed his actions on post-traumatic stress disorder, which he developed from being kidnapped in Nigeria.
“The 24-year-old claimed he acted the way he had because he had PTSD from having been previously kidnapped while living in his active country of Nigeria,” Mr Getsch wrote to the judge.
Special agent Terry Getsch concluded that the FBI had strong reasons to believe the duo of Mr Bamigboye and Ms Frazier planned to abduct a federal officer.
The FBI said it had “probable cause to believe that the defendants, Oluwadamilola Ogooluwa Bamigboye and Rekeya Lionesha Lee Frazier, violated Title 18 of the U.S. Code, Section 111” and that the act involved contact with the victim and the intent to commit another felony.
Mr Bamigboye has now been charged following an arraignment before federal magistrate judge David Schultz in Hennepin County, Minnesota.