BURLINGTON — A Fitchburg man is suing the unnamed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who appears on video to use a prohibited form of chokehold that induced a seizure-like response in him during a November traffic stop.

Carlos Zapata Rivera claims in a complaint he filed with the support of the American Civil Liberties Union that he was driving with his wife, Juliana Milena Ojeda Montoya, to work with their 1-year-old daughter on Nov. 6 when they were pulled over by ICE agents. According to the complaint and a statement by the ACLU, the agents told Zapata Rivera they intended to arrest his wife before one climbed into the vehicle and “pressed his thumbs forcefully on Mr. Zapata Rivera’s carotid arteries, restricting blood flow to his brain.”

The ACLU claims this caused Zapata Rivera to lose consciousness and experience involuntary movements similar to a seizure. The incident was caught on a widely circulated video taken by a witness.

“All people in the United States have a constitutional right to be free from excessive force,” said ACLU Massachusetts Managing Attorney Daniel McFadden in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “Carlos posed no threat to anyone. Yet this lawsuit alleges a federal agent compressed the blood vessels in his neck until he lost consciousness and suffered involuntary, seizure-like movements. The agent’s use of force against Carlos was dangerous, grossly excessive, and unlawful.”

The complaint notes ICE and U.S. Department of Homeland Security policy prohibiting carotid chokes outside of situations where deadly force is otherwise necessary. It also alleges Zapata Rivera was denied medical treatment afterward by ICE. Zapata Rivera was released at the scene, while his wife was arrested and brought to a facility in Maine, before being released on Nov. 10.

The lawsuit was filed by Zapata Rivera and the ACLU Monday. Soon after, he was ordered to show up at the ICE field office in Burlington Thursday morning for his first check-in in nearly three years. Zapata Rivera is from Ecuador, where he completed his primary education and training to become a police officer before coming to the U.S.

According to the complaint, Zapata Rivera was arrested by immigration officials in 2023 and placed in removal proceedings before being released, and told to appear in immigration court in Boston to continue those proceedings, which he claims he did.

“Carlos has appeared for all required proceedings in the Immigration Court. As part of those proceedings, he filed an application for asylum in early 2024. That application is currently pending, and his proceedings are ongoing,” the lawsuit said. “When Carlos was released from Border Patrol custody in 2023, he was ordered to appear for an in-person ‘check-in’ with immigration authorities when he arrived in Massachusetts. Carlos appeared for the check-in in Massachusetts as ordered in or around February 2023.”

From February 2023 to now, Zapata Rivera claims to have never been asked to appear for a check-in, and he is authorized to work in the U.S.

Zapata Rivera was inside the Burlington ICE office for about an hour Thursday morning. Outside, protesters were standing in support of him and his effort to sue an ICE agent who has not yet been identified. After exiting the building with his attorneys, Zapata Rivera said to Greater Assabet Indivisible Network organizer Todd Palmer through a translator that he was “thankful for the help the community has given in a very difficult moment” for him and his family. He did not speak about what took place during his check-in with ICE.

Palmer took the moment to thank Zapata Rivera for filing the lawsuit.

“I wanted to thank him, because we have to stand up for our rights or they will be taken away, so I thanked him for having the courage to stand up for his rights, and that we are behind him,” said Palmer.

Among the protesters was Pam McArthur, a Framingham resident who has been coming to the weekday demonstrations every week “to protest the actions ICE is taking.”

“I heard we were gathering particularly for Carlos today. I am thrilled he is suing ICE and trying to bring some justice to the country, and I am here to support him,” said McArthur.

ICE Boston spokesperson James Covington did not immediately return a request for comment by The Sun Thursday afternoon.

Following the Nov. 6 incident, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the Boston Herald that responders on scene “found no legitimate medical episode,” and a Nov. 7 Department of Homeland Security post on X accused Zapata Rivera of “FAKING a seizure to help a criminal escape justice.”