When a masked man grabbed Ernesto Diaz’s left shoulder and slammed him against a vehicle, he thought he was being robbed.

Diaz, 23, had been walking down Archer Avenue on the Southwest Side in late September, heading toward the CTA Orange Line for a trip downtown. Earbuds in, he was listening to music and said he barely registered the vehicle that pulled up near him. That was until he felt the pain in his shoulder.

Diaz felt confused and disoriented. He couldn’t hear because “Higher Power” by Coldplay was still playing in his ears. But when he craned his neck, and saw more than half a dozen federal agents surrounding him, he understood what was happening.

“I’m Hispanic and I’m dark (skinned), so that’s why they picked me up,” Diaz, a U.S. citizen, said. “It feels scary because I’m weari

See Full Page