A Minneapolis educator filed a legal claim against the federal government on Tuesday, alleging that Border Patrol agents violently attacked him without cause on school property in January.
The complaint from Quentin Williams, a special education assistant at Roosevelt High School, also alleges that federal agents falsely arrested him; wrongfully detained him and denied him his rights; initiated false criminal charges against him; and engaged in a campaign to smear his reputation.
“I hope this next step in seeking justice will hold someone accountable for what happened to me,” Williams said in a statement Tuesday. “I am just so blessed to be alive.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The administrative claim is the first step in the Federal Tort Claims Act process. After the claim is filed, the federal government has six months to investigate and respond. If the government does not respond or denies the claim, the claimant can file a federal lawsuit.
Williams, whose students call him Mr. Q, filed the complaint with the help of the MacArthur Justice Center in Washington, D.C. He previously told Sahan Journal the way federal agents pinned him down and obstructed his breathing made him think of George Floyd, and if they had stayed on him any longer he thought he might have died.
According to the complaint: shortly after 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 7, Border Patrol agents arrived on school property in pursuit of a driver who had allegedly “made contact” with a Border Patrol vehicle. After agents arrested the driver outside the school, more government vehicles showed up and fanned out onto school property, despite school administrators telling them to leave. Agents taunted, pushed, and yelled at staff and community members in the growing crowd around the scene.
Williams was assisting students with dismissal at the end of the school day, hours after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents fatally shot Renee Good two and a half miles away. He was shocked to watch the scene unfold.
According to the complaint, then-Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino was leading agents back to their vehicles when Border Patrol Agent Joshua McBee doubled back and began shoving one of Williams’ colleagues, who had been telling the agents to leave. McBee then began shoving other staff members, including Williams. At this point, the agents who had been on their way out turned back toward the school grounds. Williams put his hands up to show that he was not a danger.
As McBee started to walk away, Border Patrol Agent Christopher Velez ran onto the lawn and pushed another school staffer. In the process, Velez slipped on the snow. He then grabbed the staffer he had pushed and flipped him on the ground. Bovino and another agent started shoving and pulling at Williams.
“Mr. Williams did not fight back,” the complaint states. “He continued to watch the situation in shock.”
Williams tried to help his colleague stand up. Agents allowed his colleague to walk away, but turned their attention to Williams. McBee grabbed Williams by his hair and collar, which later caused some of his locs to fall out.
“There was no justification for the agents’ violent conduct,” the complaint reads. “Mr. Williams was not being aggressive or belligerent. He did not fight or push back against the agents. And at no time did agents give Mr. Williams any instructions or commands. Instead, multiple armed agents violently yanked and shoved Mr. Williams by his head, hair, neck, and body, trying to physically force him to the ground.”
Velez tackled Williams, causing his head to hit the ground hard, climbed on top of him, and put his hands around Williams’ neck. Border Patrol Agents Dalton James Smith and Joseph Curran held Williams down at either side while another agent held his feet.
Williams gasped that he could not breathe. Bovino pointed pepper spray inches from his face and threatened, “I’ll spray you!”
Velez pushed down on the back of Williams’ neck, driving his face into the snow, then drove his knee into Williams’ back, making it even more difficult for Wiliams to breathe. Williams was at this point in significant pain. Velez, Smith, and Curran twisted Williams’ arms into handcuffs and led him to a government vehicle. Curran searched Williams’ pockets and did not put a seatbelt on him.
Williams was taken to the Whipple Federal Building, where he was forced to stand outside in the bitter cold without a coat for more than an hour as agents taunted him and took his photograph, which they shared in WhatsApp chats and which later appeared on an X post from the Department of Homeland Security, with a caption that implied that Williams had assaulted law enforcement. At Whipple, Williams was not given food, water or medical attention. He was also not allowed to access a phone or contact a lawyer.
On Jan. 23, the federal government charged Williams with felony assault on the basis of a sworn affidavit by Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Richard Berger. Berger’s affidavit swore that he had personal knowledge of the events at Roosevelt High School on Jan. 7, but according to the complaint, he was not there. Berger has since drawn rebuke from a federal judge for claiming personal knowledge of events of which he did not have personal knowledge.
The complaint also accuses the federal government of smearing Williams’ reputation. Before the charges against him were unsealed, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi posted photos of him on social media, along with others, claiming that they were “rioters” charged with “allegedly assaulting federal law enforcement.” The complaint alleges these posts violated several court orders. Social media posts about Williams from official federal government accounts generated racist messages and threats of violence.
The federal government downgraded the charge to a misdemeanor on Feb. 4, and on March 24, a judge granted prosecutors’ request to dismiss the case altogether, but the false accusations remain online.
Some of the officers named in Williams’ complaint have been accused of excessive force before. A report from the Illinois Accountability Commission describes an October 2025 incident in Chicago in which Border Patrol agents chased construction workers into the yard of a home and then deployed a significant amount of tear gas on a gathering crowd. McBee and Smith were two of the officers on the scene. Bovino oversaw Border Patrol’s aggressive approach in Chicago and Minneapolis, and repeatedly deployed tear gas against protesters himself.
Lawyers for Williams declined to specify the amount of damages they were seeking.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
