The Chicago pastor who was seen being pepper-sprayed by ICE officers in footage online said he could hear the agents laughing at him as they fired at his head.
Rev. David Black, the minister of the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, spoke to CNN on Thursday after Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin accused the pastor of “flipping the bird” at her and her boss Kristi Noem in a post on X.
Footage of the incident, from Sept. 19, showed Black being struck in the head by an ICE officer during a protest outside an ICE processing facility in Broadview, Illinois. He was eventually shot with pepper-spray balls seven times, he told CNN, calling the attack “indiscriminate” and “vicious.”
In first TV interview since the attack, the pastor claimed the ICE officers were mocking the demonstrators as they participated in the “peaceful and spiritual” rally. Black’s clerical collar was also clearly visible in the footage.
“We could hear them laughing as they were shooting us from the roof, and it was deeply disturbing,” Black told Erin Burnett OutFront on CNN.
“We‘ve gotten to witness a few things about these ICE agents operating in Broadview, and really, what it has shown us is how disorganized they are and how poorly supervised and trained they are.”
His appearance came just hours after a Chicago court issued a temporary restraining order barring government agents from using a number of forceful tactics against faith-based demonstrators and journalists.
McLaughlin reposted footage on X of Black being shot with a pepper-spray ball but claimed it had been “clipped,” accusing the demonstrators of being “agitators” blocking an ICE vehicle from leaving the federal facility.
“Shortly after, rioters began throwing rocks, bottles and launching fireworks at the law enforcement officers on the roof,” McLaughlin said. “If you are obstructing law enforcement you can expect to be met with force. And, as an aside, this is the same ‘pastor’ who flipped [Kristi Noem] and our team the bird when we were there last week.”
Black said those claims were “categorically false” and that he was not flipping the bird but “standing to the side in a gesture of prayer and praying verbally for the ICE officers and those detained inside.”
The Daily Beast has contacted McLaughlin’s office for comment.
The pastor, who graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in 2018 with a master of divinity and master of arts in Christian education and formation, alleged that ICE agents gave no warning before opening fire.
“After they shot me in my head and my face and multiple times in my torso, arms, and legs, I was shielded by the bodies of others who were there, who rushed in to support me and took many more hits that were intended for me,” Black said. “I was then guided away to a place where street medics helped to wash out my eyes and try to keep me safe, but I was completely disabled at that point.”
Black claimed that about 20 ICE officers then rushed out and began to shove them out of the way.
“ICE officers [were] shoving protesters who were standing and speaking and chanting and singing peacefully and praying peacefully, shoving us down. And then dispensing a huge amount of chemical weapons onto us. I was drenched from the crown of my head to the socks and my shoes. It was indiscriminate, and it was vicious.”
The pastor called the temporary restraining order protecting religious officials and journalists “a victory that belongs to everyone who lives in the United States of America and particularly to the brave protesters and demonstrators who have been showing up.”
