CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A federal judge on Wednesday partially dismissed charges the federal government brought against Miguel Martinez — a U.S. citizen who was arrested after documenting Border Patrol in Charlotte this month.

Martinez, 24, took photos of agents at several locations on Nov. 16, the second day they roamed the city in paramilitary gear and questioned and stopped people in public places. Border Patrol agents tried to get Martinez to engage in a “voluntary stop,” but he fled after circling agents in a parking lot, according to court documents.

A chase followed, and Martinez, who was previously convicted of resisting an officer, was charged with felony assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating or interfering with federal officers. That federal charge was enhanced when the government claimed he used a “deadly or dangerous weapon” — his car — in the alleged crime.

But video played during Martinez’s three-hour preliminary hearing in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina showed footage from inside a car carrying four ICE agents who said they planned to “smash” into Martinez. At one point an agent said “he’s gonna get shot.”

After nearly a week of deliberating, U.S. Magistrate Judge David Keesler on Wednesday issued an order dismissing the enhancement charge of using a deadly weapon to impede officers. He found there was probable cause “to believe [Martinez] forcibly interfered with the CBP agents.”

Miguel Martinez’s federal charges

During the chase, both Martinez and agents drove over medians and on the wrong side of the road, video shows.

Martinez’s federal public defender argued Martinez had every right to flee. When agents tried to stop Martinez, they were infringing on his First Amendment rights to engage in “citizen journalism” and document agents in public spaces, lawyer John Parke Davis said.

After the chase started, Martinez swerved to avoid the collision ICE agents wanted, Davis said. Federal officers eventually stopped Martinez after about two miles and charged him.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Caryn Finley told Keesler “it’s lucky nobody got hurt” as Martinez continued to flee. He could’ve “just stopped” as agents in cars with lights and sirens followed him, she said.

Keesler wrote that Martinez’s “circling of the CBP agents, the subsequent vehicular chase, and the danger posed by [his] driving” support a finding of probable cause that he interfered, but “considering ... testimony and the video, the Court is not persuaded there is probable cause to support use of a deadly or dangerous weapon to interfere.”

Keesler said he respectfully acknowledged the time Davis spent arguing on the “infringement of First Amendment rights and the alleged misconduct of ICE and CBP agents.”

“At this stage, those matters are not properly before the Court; the question for the Court at this moment is probable cause. The Court makes no finding here regarding the basis for future litigation regarding Defendant’s First Amendment rights, or Defendant’s future motions practice in this criminal matter,” Keesler wrote.

Martinez’s next court date has not been set.

Martinez’s parents immigrated from Mexico, and he was “trying to protect immigrants,” so they knew where agents were, his family said of his actions.

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