A person who was stopped by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Sanford is accused of backing into an ICE vehicle with a 1-year-old passenger inside.
Sanford police said officers responded to Brook Street, near the High Street intersection, shortly before 9:20 a.m. Thursday at the request of ICE agents, who had a person in custody.
See the report in the video above
ICE agents told Sanford police they made a traffic stop and positioned one of their vehicles in front of the detainee’s vehicle and another ICE vehicle behind, police said. The ICE agents reported the detainee had put their vehicle in reverse and struck the ICE vehicle that was positioned behind them.
A bird feeder camera at a Brook Street home captured footage of the crash. The video, which was shared with Maine’s Total Coverage, shows a black SUV driving on Brook Street toward High Street when a silver vehicle with flashing lights approaches the SUV from the front and cuts it off.
The footage then shows the SUV begin to back up as another vehicle approaches from behind and then crash into that approaching vehicle while in reverse. Watch the footage in the video player embedded below.
“I noticed a Black male being arrested, yelling, being preceded to put in the car, continuing to — what seemed like — put up a little bit of a fight, continuing to yell,” Sarah Vachon, a witness, said.
Sanford police officers, along with emergency medical personnel from the Sanford Fire Department, responded to the scene after learning that a 1-year-old child was inside the man’s vehicle.
ICE agents told police that the toddler was not properly secured in a child safety seat. Sanford police said that out of an abundance of caution, the 1-year-old was taken to Southern Maine Health Care to be medically evaluated.
Witnesses told Maine’s Total Coverage reporter Jim Keithley that the man who was detained could be heard yelling, “My baby! My baby!” The witnesses said the man was so distraught that he passed out.
“It all seemed really calm, cool and collected from all the professionals, and the only person I saw yelling was the man being arrested,” Vachon said.
During the incident, Sanford police officers also learned that two of the man’s other children, ages 2 and 9, had been left inside a nearby home without adult supervision. The Sanford Police Department then contacted the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, which responded to the home to ensure the children’s safety and welfare.
“The Sanford Police Department’s involvement in this incident was limited to responding to a request for assistance, addressing immediate public safety concerns, and ensuring the safety and welfare of the children involved,” Sanford police said in a news release shared on Facebook. “The federal enforcement action was conducted by ICE.”
In July, a new law that restricts local law enforcement’s collaboration with federal immigration authorities went into effect in Maine. LD 1971 was passed by both chambers of the Maine Legislature in June 2025, but Gov. Janet Mills decided to hold the bill, which became law without her signature in January.
As of Thursday evening, it is unclear whether the toddler is still in the hospital, where the other children were taken or where the children’s father is being detained.
