Two Arrested After Car Intentionally Rams Three ICE Vehicles In Ellensburg

Two men are in jail after police say one of them intentionally rammed his car into three federal law enforcement vehicles in Kittitas County this week.

The Ellensburg Police Department says it happened Tuesday morning, when officers responded to reports of a hit-and-run involving a U.S. Immigrations & Customs Enforcement (ICE) vehicle on the city's north side.

After arriving at the scene, officers learned that several federal agents had reportedly attempted to apprehend an individual who was a passenger inside a vehicle, when the driver of the vehicle intentionally struck three separate ICE vehicles before fleeing.

The vehicle was soon located by federal agents who determined the two occupants had fled on foot, and following a brief search, both were located and arrested without further incident.

The driver of the vehicle, 41-year-old Jose Arael Mauricio-Alvarez, was booked into the Kittitas County Jail on three counts each of second-degree assault and attended vehicle hit-and-run.

The passenger, whose name was not released to the media, was taken into federal custody for reasons that were also publicly undisclosed.

Officials with the Ellensburg Police Department say their agency was not aware of, nor involved with, any of the federal enforcement activity which predicated the incident, and added its officers do not assist federal immigration authorities with civil immigration enforcement.