'You think I care?' Federal agent takes bicyclist to the ground in Key West while locals record

A Key West man riding his bike to work was stopped by a federal agent who held him on the ground and threatened to break out his stun gun. “Stop, you’re going to get tased,” the unidentified agent repeatedly says. “I go to work,” the man responds to the agent. “I need to work.”Key West Newswire by Gwen Filosa is a reader-supported publication. Become a free or paid subscriber to receive news updates. The arrest was on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026, in downtown Key West by an agent — who in the fuzzy video — is dressed in a US Border Patrol-type uniform and driving an unmarked SUV.The bicyclist is 19, according to the Key West Immigrant Support Network [KWISN], which posted the video Saturday after the incident, saying they only did so after getting approval from the 19-year-old’s family. The video above, taken by a bystander, shows the agent holding the man down by kneeling over him on the pavement for about 30 seconds while he searches him and restrains his hands. Before the video began, the agent “ripped” the man off his bike and “slammed” him to the pavement, KWISN said witnesses told them. Bystanders called it a battery, the nonprofit said, adding: “They state clearly that the teen did nothing to provoke the attack.”As he straddles the bicyclist, the agent pulls items out of the man’s pockets and tosses them on the street. Then the agent pulls the man to his feet by grabbing his hands, which are shackled, and puts him into the backseat of the SUV. KWISN didn’t release any information on the man who was arrested but said they know his family. ”It doesn’t really matter what this teen's background is,” KWISN posted. “No human deserves to be treated like this,” the group said. “And today has been one of those days where it feels like nothing will ever be enough to stop this from happening.”‘Get out of here’“Sir, that’s a kid he’s not resisting you,” a man watching calls out to the agent. “You threw him off his bike. What are you doing, sir? That’s a kid.”Another man watching the arrest calls the agent a fascist and a Nazi to his face. “You’re a piece of s**t,” the man tells the agent.“You’re a piece of s**t,” the agent replies. Share this story by tapping the link belowOnce he shuts the rear SUV door, he stands outside the driver’s side and points to onlookers.“Get out of here or you’re going to be arrested as well,” the agent tells them. The men agree to stand 25 feet back from him.“Get your face all over the internet,” one of the bystanders tells the agent, who walks back to the arrested man’s bicycle to move it out of the street.“You think I care,” the agent replies, holding his hands outstretched, palms up. “You should care, if you had morality,” a bystander says. “You threw him off his bike for no reason,” the other man says. The agent lifts up the bike that had been laying in the street, straightens it and rolls it to the sidewalk, where he just drops it. “We have you on security cameras, he wasn’t resisting,” says a woman, who appears to also be recording the agent with her phone.As the bike lands on its side, a man says, “They don’t care.”Key West Newswire is reader-supported mediaThank you all for reading and subscribing. An $8/month subscription helps keep this independent local news service running. That’s the cost of a decent cup of coffee from your barista. Right now, fewer than 7 percent of my subscriptions are paid. If that doubles, I would be able to spend much more of my work week reporting and writing local news from Key West. Some of you have asked if you could make one-time payments. Of course. My Venmo is @gwen-filosa. I also have Zelle. I went solo on Aug. 3, 2024, after 27 years of working for news outlets such as the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the Miami Herald, Miami’s NPR station WLRN, and the Key West daily and weekly papers. Get full access to Key West Newswire by Gwen Filosa at gwenfilosa.substack.com/subscribe