Former ICE official Scott Mechkowski says whether the man was "using his car as a weapon" decides the case
Scott MechkowskiRetired deputy field office director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in New York City, in a Daily Wire opinion column
In a Daily Wire column, Scott Mechkowski, a retired ICE deputy field office director in New York, wrote that a vehicle driven at an officer is a deadly weapon and that the case turns on whether the man was using his car as a weapon, which he said the footage will show. He criticized officials who condemned the shooting before any video was public.
“A vehicle driven at an officer is a deadly weapon, and I taught officers to treat it that way. ... DHS hasn’t yet said what that officer saw in that moment. That question decides this case: was the man behind the wheel using his car as a weapon against an officer? The footage will answer it.”
Analysis

Where this statement fits
Was ICE justified in shooting a man in a car in Marble Hill?
On October 8, 2026, an ICE officer shot a man in a car near Marble Hill Avenue and West 225th Street in Marble Hill, a neighborhood the NYPD placed in the Bronx and ABC News and The Intercept placed in upper Manhattan. DHS said ICE officers were conducting a targeted operation in the Bronx to arrest a man from the Dominican Republic with a prior grand larceny conviction and multiple prior arrests, and that an officer discharged his weapon during the incident. Mayor Zohran Mamdani said early reports indicated agents surrounded the man and his 5-year-old child in the car before firing multiple rounds. The NYPD said it was not involved and that the man was conscious at a hospital. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch later said evidence at the scene indicates at least one ICE agent discharged seven rounds, striking the driver in the neck. At a press conference on October 9, ICE's Marcos Charles said the man accelerated into two ICE vehicles and toward other officers, and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the agents feared for their lives. A federal judge later barred ICE from removing the man from the country or moving him outside New York and New Jersey while his habeas corpus petition proceeds.
Source and context
Analysis
About this source
Opinion column by retired ICE official Scott Mechkowski on official reactions to ICE shootings in Austin and Marble Hill.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Mechkowski opened by comparing the reaction with an ICE shooting in Austin on September 20, where he said early claims were contradicted by later video. Between the two quoted passages, he cited the police commissioner's account that the car started to move after plainclothes officers approached and that an ICE sedan was left damaged.
After the quotation
He went on to fault Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Council Member Tiffany Caban and Gov. Kathy Hochul for calling for ICE's abolition or a halt to enforcement before any footage was public.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The reference point is whether the ICE officer was justified in shooting the man in the car. Mechkowski says "That question decides this case" and frames it as whether the driver was "using his car as a weapon against an officer", which makes his view of the shooting depend on footage not yet released, so we labeled it Mixed or conditional. The closest competing label is Defended or excused, since he argues a car driven at an officer is a deadly weapon and faults officials who condemned the shooting early; it loses because he does not say the condition was met.
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More from this case
Read the full caseHochul, at the governor debate, says of the shooting "That's not how you conduct yourself. ICE is out of control."
“he'd be fine if ICE agents shoot into cars, shoot guns into vehicles not knowing who's inside, and could have killed a five-year-old child ... That's not how you conduct yourself. ICE is out of control.”Read statement
Blakeman, asked at the governor debate about ICE's tactics, says the shooting "never would have happened but for your sanctuary policy"
“the question that New Yorkers have to ask is what was this guy doing in New York in the first place? It's because Kathy Hochul has made us a sanctuary state. ... Kathy Hochul has taken that ability away from us. That's why things like this happen. ... it never would have happened but for your sanctuary policy.”Read statement
Eli Steele says "The investigations will decide whether the shooting was lawful"
“The investigations will decide whether the shooting was lawful, and due process, which protects all individuals within this country, including those who are not citizens. ... So let the courts judge the officer who fired, and let them judge Oscar Belgal too.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Former ICE official Scott Mechkowski says whether the man was "using his car as a weapon" decides the case". First published: 2026-10-13. Last updated: 2026-10-13. https://disputeindex.com/events/5666-in-a-daily-wire-column-scott-mechkowski-a