Records shed details on 2 accused of hitting Border Patrol agents with cars

Court records provide details about a man who Customs and Border Protection agents allege was following them in Charlotte and hit one agent with his car Monday.

Cristobal Maltos followed agents as they conducted stops and arrests Monday, according to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. He reversed when agents first tried to make contact with him, officials said.

Maltos later resumed following them, and three Border Patrol cars and five agents surrounded him. The agents asked him for 30 seconds to roll down his window, according to court documents.

One officer “leaned over the hood of the vehicle on the front drivers’ side.” Then Maltos’ car moved forward 30 feet, and its side mirror struck an officer, officials alleged. Then the car reversed slowly, and officers smashed the driver’s side window, opened the door and removed Maltos.

The interaction was captured on body camera, according to court documents.

Agents said they read Maltos his Miranda rights, which he waived, according to court documents.

“Maltos eventually admitted he moved the vehicle forward in first gear” and “claimed he was in shock and was trying to get away, but did not admit striking the officer,” documents say.

Maltos is charged with felony assault, resisting arrest and impeding a federal officer. Another man, Miguel Angel Garcia Martinez, faces the same charge after federal agents alleged he “weaponized his vehicle” against them in the University City area on Sunday.

As part of an immigration sweep, Border Patrol said it had made over 200 arrests since starting an operation in Charlotte on Saturday. Agents hiding their identities with masks arrested people in public places, sparking fear across Charlotte’s immigrant communities and protests in opposition.

U.S. attorney comments on Border Patrol and protests

In a written statement Tuesday about the two men accused of using vehicles against agents, Russ Ferguson, the U.S. attorney for the federal court district that includes Charlotte, said “these charges do not stem from the organized protests that have taken place in the Charlotte area.”

“Those who disagree with immigration enforcement actions have a right to peacefully protest, and I am proud that our citizens exercised their First Amendment rights without resorting to violence at organized protests over the weekend,” Ferguson said in the statement.

A woman is facing the same charge as Martinez and Maltos, The Charlotte Observer learned in federal court. She was released from jail Monday following her hearing. Details about her case remain scant because her criminal complaint remained under seal Tuesday evening, but family and community members told the Observer she was arrested at a Sunday morning protest outside the Department of Homeland Security’s Charlotte office.

Martinez, Maltos and the woman face a maximum sentence of eight years in prison and a $250,000 fine if they were convicted.

Maltos and the woman were released on $25,000 unsecured bonds. Martinez has a detention hearing in federal court Thursday afternoon.

This story was originally published November 18, 2025 at 6:28 PM.