Three months after being pepper-sprayed during ICE operation, Tucson man demands accountability

Videos of an incident in South Tucson in early April went viral across Southern Arizona. An alleged Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent releases a thick cloud of pepper spray directly into Steven Davis’ face. Davis, a Rapid Response observer, drops to his knees as other observers run to catch him, keeping him from falling onto the asphalt. 

A video from a different angle shows Davis being sprayed at close range by a man in a plaid shirt and khaki pants, a gray cloth covering the man’s face. 

Almost three months later, Davis is still seeking justice. He wants to know the man’s name, sit in a courtroom with him and have a jury or judge decide whether the man broke any laws. 

“In a larger sense, justice means what (Pima County Attorney Laura) Conover says: that there’s no one above the law and that anyone who violates state law is gonna be held to account,” he told CALÓ News.

Davis filed a police report with the South Tucson Police Department on April 30. He also reported the incident to Conover’s office, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes’ office, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. Davis said he has only heard back from the Attorney General's office.

His is one of several incidents that the Pima County Attorney’s Office has been following, Conover told CALÓ News in May, though she declined to comment on any of the cases, saying they’re still open and being investigated by local law enforcement.

Conover has repeatedly said she intends to hold ICE agents accountable if they break local laws. Speaking at public events, she has urged residents to report these incidents to her office. At the top of the home page of the Pima County Attorney’s website, a link redirects people to Attorney General Kris Mayes’ office to report incidents.

In order for her office to take on a case against federal agents, a local police department has to investigate first, she said. 

“I need a clean, normal criminal investigation of potential unlawful conduct so that I can be the check and balance that I’m supposed to be,” Conover said, adding that her office is “a secondary layer of protection against harm.” 

With contradicting reports on where his case stands — police documents indicate the case is closed, yet city officials say they’ve yet to be informed of such an action — Davis and others who have reported assaults and misconduct on behalf of ICE agents are at the mercy of local officials’ commitment to keep federal agencies accountable.

“The only way that there’s going to be accountability for these agents… it’s gonna be state and local officials,” Davis said. “And it’s gonna be state and local officials holding ICE agents accountable for their violations of state law.” 

Videos show pepper-spray incident during ICE operation

Davis still gets emotional thinking about what happened on April 6.

Videos he shared with CALÓ News, the same videos he submitted to police as evidence, show that he was one of several observers that day in the parking lot at the South Tucson Walgreens, at the corner of West 29th Street and South 6th Avenue.. 

During a confrontation between the agents — who wear vests labeled “Police, ICE” — and observers, a man in a plaid button-up and khakis drives up and gets out of his car, the videos show. He carries a larger can of pepper spray than the other agents and does not wear a vest identifying him as ICE like the others. Videos show the man pepper spraying one observer, then Davis and finally a third.

When the man in plaid approaches him, Davis is heard saying to him, “I have a legal right to record you.” The man redirects his attention for a few seconds, then turns back to Davis and sprays him, video shows.

The pepper spray can was a Sabre MK-9, Davis later learned. It is a canister sold only to law enforcement and is meant to deploy 17 one-second bursts at a range of 12 to 15 feet, according to online shop descriptions.

Davis was sprayed from about one to two feet away, video shows.

“Shock and pain,” Davis recalled feeling. “I was surprised, eyes wide open, mouth wide open, in mid-sentence, telling him I have the right to observe and record. And then just pain.” 

The moment lasted less than five seconds, but the burning sensation lasted a few days, and Davis continues to feel the impact mentally, emotionally and physically, as his existing chronic bronchitis has worsened since the incident, he said. 

“I would like to drop it, I would,” Davis said. “But it’s such an important issue and it’s gonna get increasingly important, And our local elected officials have to grapple with it. They cannot stick their heads in the sand because it could get a lot worse.”

Davis, who has been observing ICE activity since January of this year, acknowledged his privilege, being an old, white guy, as he described himself. He’s 65, 5’10”, with salt and pepper hair and a silver-white goatee. 

Davis’ pepper-spraying incident is just one in a long list of reported assaults captured on video and shared across social media of the ways ICE agents have violated mostly immigrants’ rights. He’s been witness to some of those, too. The first call Davis observed was of ICE agents smashing a car window and arresting a Latino man on Tucson’s south side, not far from where he was pepper sprayed.  

“If I don’t speak up and stand up and take this as far as I can, and others don’t do the same, then I’m worried that things are gonna get even worse,” Davis said. “They’re bad enough now, and not primarily for me, because I’m privileged, but (for) people who don’t have a crowd of friends and supporters and pro-bono lawyers.”

Fighting for his right to a police investigation 

About three days after the incident, Davis tried to file a police report with the South Tucson Police Department. The police chief, Danny Denogean, declined to take the report, Davis said. 

He tried to file it again on April 30. Police detectives agreed to file it, interviewing and questioning why he had waited so long to report the incident. About a week later, after picking up a copy of the report, Davis saw the case had been closed.  

“Based on the details provided, and the information revealed in the videos, the involved parties appear to be federal law enforcement officers acting in their official capacity,” the report, which Davis provided a photo of to CALÓ News, states. “Any further review or action would need to be handled through the appropriate federal agencies internal process. No further investigation is warranted at this time and this case is closed.” 

The South Tucson Police Department did not respond to CALÓ News’ request for comment.

Unsatisfied with the department’s response, Davis signed up to speak at the South Tucson City Council meeting on May 19 surrounded by supporters. Luis Campos, an attorney and a friend of Davis, called in to speak during the meeting.

“You are all aware of the case that Steven has been talking about, his particular case, that occurred in a parking lot at Walgreens a few weeks ago,” Campos told the mayor and council.  “That, ladies and gentlemen, was an assault.”

The council voted to direct its police department to investigate the case and request assistance from neighboring jurisdictions, citing a lack of resources within the South Tucson Police Department. 

Before the unanimous vote, Mayor Roxanne Valenzuela read a statement from Conover.

“It does not matter what uniform you wear or what badge you claim to carry, you cannot violate state law. You will be held accountable,” Conover’s statement said. “I continue to push for and anticipate a legitimate law enforcement investigation into the incident in South Tucson. At that time, we will apply the law to the facts and evidence. And again, no one is immune from prosecution. If you cause harm and I can prove it, we will haul you into court.”

On Tuesday, Valenzuela told CALÓ News that the council has not been informed that the case has been closed. She said city staff emailed USCIS and Homeland Security field offices, requesting that they identify the ICE agent involved in the April 6 incident.

The council is also moving forward with requests for support from neighboring jurisdictions and recently met with Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos to request assistance with the investigation, Valenzuela said.

But as far as Davis knows, the case has yet to be reopened, a point he reiterated in public comment at the June 2 city council meeting. During his comment, he emphasized Conover’s statement.

"As of 1:15 this afternoon… please correct me if I am wrong, the investigation has not been reopened, so the chief of police has chosen to disregard the direction of the City Council." he told the mayor and council at that meeting.

County attorney calls on police to ‘be on the right side of history’

According to Conover, federal agents do have some protections and it may be difficult to take them to court, but they don’t have absolute immunity, contrary to what some federal officials have claimed.

Conover is a founding member of the Fight Against Federal Overreach national coalition, made up of district attorneys who have pledged to “ensure federal officials are held accountable when they exceed their lawful authority,” according to the coalition’s website.  

The coalition was formed in January, after Vice President JD Vance claimed that ICE agents had absolute immunity during a press conference in response to an ICE agent killing Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. Months earlier, Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for Policy and Homeland Security advisor, made a similar claim, telling ICE agents they have “federal immunity” when they’re on the job. 

It is up to local law enforcement and local elected officials to hold federal agents accountable, Conover said, adding that it’s “probably the hardest thing” for officers to have to police themselves and their “colleague” that “has gone rogue,” she said. 

“This is going to be a time when we need local law enforcement to exercise courage and bravery, to think deeply about the oath of office that they took and that I took,” she said. “And to be on the right side of history, that you’re protecting the community from harm and not some masked, unidentified people that may be violating state (law) and engaging in assaultive behavior.” 

As Davis waits for his case to run its course, he’s continued to show up to observe and record ICE agents. He hopes his presence, and that of other observers, will “push ICE agents to act constitutionally,” knowing they’re being watched and recorded, he said. 

“My aims are very modest,” Davis said. “I’m not out there to try to obstruct them when I’m out there as an observer. I’m there to observe and document, hoping that they’ll behave themselves, and that if they don’t, we will have a record that we can use to hold them accountable someday.”

Stephanie Casanova is an independent, bilingual journalist from Tucson, Arizona, covering community stories for over 10 years. She is passionate about narrative, in-depth storytelling that is inclusive and reflects the diversity of the communities she covers.