(WXYZ) — A food truck owner from Southwest Detroit is facing a felony charge and deportation after an incident that was caught on police bodycam.
Her attorney says it could all have been avoided, while police say she deserved to be arrested for disobeying instructions.
Watch Simon Shaykhet's video report below:
On Sept. 14, Nayeli Ruiz, the owner of Doppy's Fire Hot Dogs, was taken into custody and charged with assaulting, resisting and obstructing Detroit police, who originally questioned her about not having a permit for her food truck, located at Springwells and Vernor.
“I haven’t done anything. Why are you detaining me?" she can be heard saying on bodycam.
Her attorney said she did not have ID on her, but was calling a lawyer.
“She pulled back. He grabbed her and snatched her up. She was scared," co-owner Eric Gibson said.
Gibson says Ruiz has six kids and has worked hard to grow her business, adding that she's not a danger to anyone.
Recently, word of her hot dogs spread on social media, leading to a large crowd of customers gathering at the food truck, and catching the attention of police.
I watched the footage closely with Ruiz's attorney, Ryan Hill, who said not only is she now facing a felony charge, but she's also facing deportation, despite being in the U.S. for more than 20 years.
She's currently in a federal facility, separated from her kids. He said police didn't need to get physical, nor contact ICE, which detained her two weeks later.
“My client is detained. Hair pulled. Forced into a police car. This is for selling hot dogs with applications pending," Hill said.
I reached out to both ICE and DPD for updated comment and am still waiting to hear back.
Police have previously defended the video and the charge. I aked former FBI Supervisor Andy Bartnowak for his thoughts.
“A lot of people’s first thought is she’s here trying to earn a living and support her family. All that is noble. The other side is if she’s been here over 20 years, the government would say, 'hey didn’t you make some preparations for citizenship?'" he said.
He adds, that when it comes to how things escalated, "Whether you’re here legally, a citizen or not, it doesn’t give you the right to refuse lawful orders. In this case DPD had every legal means to question her."
Ruiz is due back in court a week from Friday.
