Rochester man says immigration agents left him 'like a dog,' incapacitated on the street

https://www.wxxinews.org/local-news/2026-05-18/rochester-man-says-immigration-agents-left-him-like-a-dog-incapacitated-on-the-street

A 57-year-old Rochester man says he was pepper-sprayed, shocked with a stun gun and left on the side of the road after federal agents tried to detain members of his landscaping crew.

“I fell and I fractured my wrist, and they just left me there like I'm an animal,” said Hipolito Mateo, speaking on his front lawn in northeast Rochester after returning home from urgent care.

"They just left me there," he continued. “I can't move. And luckily that I was able to roll myself to the curb, because I know I heard a vehicle coming.”

____

Quinones came to Mateo's aid, offering water to flush his eyes. The prongs from the stun gun were still in his back.

"They ain't called no medic, no ambulance or nothing for me," Mateo said. "They just left me there like I'm a dog. I'm a civilian. I'm a United States citizen. ... I was born here, Rochester, New York, at Highland Hospital in 1969."