Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Make a Passover gift and support Jewish journalism. DONATE NOW
Fast Forward

ICE Officer Who Drove His Truck Into Row Of Jewish Protesters Resigns

(JTA) — The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who drove his pickup truck into a row of Jewish protesters at a detention facility in Rhode Island has resigned from his position.

On Wednesday, Captain Thomas Woodworth drove into a row of protesters who were sitting on the ground and blocking the entrance to the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls. The protest was organized by the new Jewish group Never Again Action, which opposes ICE and United States immigration policy.

Woodworth was placed on leave from his job on Thursday, and police and the state attorney general’s office began investigating the incident. The next day, Wyatt announced that Woodworth had resigned.

“Captain Thomas Woodworth resigned from his position at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility on Friday, August 16, 2019,” the statement read. “The incident which occurred on August 14 remains under active investigation by the Rhode Island State Police and under internal investigation by the Wyatt.”

Two people were hospitalized as a result of the incident, according to the group, including one person with a broken leg and internal bleeding. Three more protesters were hospitalized after being pepper sprayed by other officers.

This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.

We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.

This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.

With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.