Left: Carlitos Ricardo Parias being arrested in October after being shot by an ICE agent (KABC/Storyful). Right: Carlitos Ricardo Parias (TikTok/@RichardLa18).
A federal judge in California has dismissed an indictment against a popular TikTok streamer who was shot by ICE agents and accused of “ramming” a law enforcement vehicle. The judge ruled the man”s rights were “jeopardized” by the government as he was “deprived” of access to his court-appointed lawyers, among other “constitutional violations.”
Attorneys for Carlitos Ricardo Parias — who goes by Richard LA on social media and has more than 130,000 followers — alleged that they tried to meet and consult with the 44-year-old multiple times after he was arrested and held in detention for assault on a federal officer following the October shooting incident. But the government “repeatedly” denied them access, according to U.S. District Judge Fernando M. Olguin, a Barack Obama appointee.
On top of that, federal prosecutors allegedly failed to meet court deadlines on numerous occasions, including “by delaying production” of body camera footage.
“Constitutional violations could – and did – occur,” Olguin wrote in a 28-page order dismissing Parias’s case on Saturday.
“The government was well aware of the distinct pathways available to them in this case,” he said, agreeing with Parias’s lawyers that his detention had “deprived him and his court-appointed counsel of the ability to meet and work together to prepare for his defense at trial without undue inconvenience or hardship,” thereby “jeopardizing his constitutional rights,” according to Olguin. “Moreover, the prejudice to Mr. Parias has been exacerbated by the government’s conduct especially as it relates to meeting deadlines and producing discovery.”
According to the DOJ’s criminal complaint, Parias — a Mexican immigrant living in L.A. — was the subject of an “administrative arrest warrant” that had been issued in conjunction with a federal immigration proceeding when ICE agents encountered him in October. He was allegedly leaving a house in south Los Angeles and getting into a Toyota Camry when agents descended upon him.
“The Camry was boxed in,” the complaint says. “Agents from ERO, HSI, and USMS approached the Camry and began giving Parias verbal commands to exit the car and submit to arrest. Instead of heeding those commands, Parias drove the Camry both forward and back, with the Camry making contact with [law enforcement].”
Prosecutors said one of the federal agents on scene attempted to break the driver’s side window of the Camry, but Parias “still refused to submit to arrest, and proceeded to drive the Camry more aggressively,” per the complaint. This allegedly caused the agents “to fear that Parias may lose control of the Camry and hit them.”
Speaking in Spanish, one of the agents can be heard telling Parias on the body camera to “get out, we’re going to shoot you,” according to the Los Angeles Times. Parias reportedly said he doesn’t have any weapons and asked why he’s being detained.
“Kill me,” Parias told the agents while allegedly attempting to flee, according to the Times. An agent can allegedly be seen opening fire moments later.
“Oh … f—,” the agent allegedly says.
Parias was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to his elbow and arrested. Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli described the incident in a statement, saying: “Parias… refused to comply with agents’ orders and escalated what could have been a simple arrest into a life-threatening situation,” according to local Fox affiliate KTTV.
Experts, including a former chief of police, told the Times that the incident was a “poor example of how to remove somebody from a car that doesn’t want to get out.” They reviewed the body camera footage and determined that Parias was a victim of “an accidental discharge,” according to the newspaper.
Olguin said in his order that the government “conceded” that Parias’s detention was “adversely affecting his right to counsel” after his arrest. His trial was scheduled to start on Tuesday before the judge dismissed his indictment with prejudice, which means DOJ prosecutors won’t be able to refile the same charges against him.
“The government did not produce any discovery until Nov. 26, 2025, nearly a month after defendant made his initial discovery requests,” Olguin noted. “Further, the government did not produce the body-worn camera footage recorded by the law enforcement officer who shot Mr. Parias until Dec. 10, 2025 — five days after the discovery cutoff — despite the fact that ‘the defense has been requesting such video recordings since October 28, 2025.'”
Olguin concluded that by delaying production of the body camera video, the government eliminated “any possibility for the defense to review the footage” with Parias.
“With each passing day, the ability of defense counsel to meet with their client and prepare for trial was further undermined, resulting in even more prejudice to defendant,” he said.
“This disruption of defendant’s ongoing criminal proceedings is troubling because the government has not asserted that Mr. Parias is the subject of a final order of removal, or even whether removal proceedings have been initiated against him,” Olguin added. “In short, the government’s failure to coordinate the overlapping actions of its separate agencies while relentlessly pursuing Mr. Parias’s criminal proceedings created a situation from which constitutional violations could – and did – occur.”
