{"id":874364,"date":"2026-06-17T21:18:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T21:18:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/874364\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T21:18:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T21:18:26","slug":"woman-pleads-guilty-to-punching-trooper-kicking-ice-officer-during-jacksonville-traffic-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/874364\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman pleads guilty to punching trooper, kicking ICE officer during Jacksonville traffic stop"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 A 41-year-old mother of four pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to punching a Florida Highway Patrol trooper and kicking an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer<\/a> and will now face sentencing.<\/p>\n

News4JAX tried to speak to Jennifer Cruz as she exited the courtroom, but she had no comment.<\/p>\n

Back in January, Cruz pleaded not guilty to the charge and despite arguments from federal prosecutors that Cruz posed a flight risk because of connections to Mexico, a federal judge ruled Monday that she can be released on an unsecured $50,000 bond — meaning she won\u2019t have to pay any money upfront, which is not uncommon in federal cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a mother of four, small business owner. She\u2019s very gratified to get back to her family and her business and attend to both of those important responsibilities,\u201d Cruz\u2019s attorney Alan Ceballos said.<\/p>\n

Cruz will have to abide by a myriad of conditions during her release, including reporting in person for all pre-trial hearings, surrendering her passport, restricting her travel to what federal courts consider the Middle District of Florida (which stretches from Jacksonville to Ft. Myers), refraining from the use of drugs or alcohol and submitting to drug tests.<\/p>\n

When the judge asked Cruz during the detention hearing why she should be released pending her trial, she replied, \u201cThis is a horrible incident. It won\u2019t happen again. You won\u2019t see me again. I\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED | <\/b>Woman accused of punching trooper, kicking ICE officer \u2018overwhelmed,\u2019 \u2018stoic\u2019 facing federal charge, attorney says<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

State charges<\/b><\/p>\n

According to an arrest report obtained by News4JAX, Cruz has also been charged with 14 state crimes, including battery on an officer, resisting an officer and driving with a suspended license.<\/p>\n

The report says that Cruz challenged law enforcement during the traffic stop on Beach Blvd., telling them \u201cshe was ready to fight\u201d before her arrest turned into a violent encounter.<\/p>\n

According to the arrest report, around 8 a.m. on Jan. 13, a trooper saw Cruz driving a white Dodge Ram on Beach Boulevard while holding a cellphone and recording, tailgating a car and a marked patrol car \u201cin a manner that interfered with her ability to safely operate the vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cruz then followed the trooper into the parking lot of a shopping plaza and started yelling at him, the report says.<\/p>\n

The trooper continued to ask Cruz for her identification, and she provided a photo of her driver\u2019s license. After doing a records check, the trooper found that her Florida driver\u2019s license was suspended as of June 17, 2025, for financial responsibility. <\/p>\n

Around 8:22 a.m., while the traffic stop was still ongoing, Cruz \u201cwillfully drove away without permission,\u201d and marked patrol vehicles activated emergency equipment to stop Cruz, having to \u201cbox her in,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n

Officials said after Cruz was stopped again, she was ordered to get out of the car and hand over her keys. <\/p>\n

She then exited the car, but refused to give troopers her keys.<\/p>\n

\u201cCruz then stated she was ready to fight,\u201d the arrest report reads.<\/p>\n

When one of the troopers tried to grab her keys, Cruz punched her in the face \u201cwith a closed fist,\u201d causing injuries to her nose and fingers, according to the arrest report.<\/p>\n

After that, Cruz continued to refuse to comply with law enforcement commands and resisted arrest \u201cby tensing her body,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n

While being escorted to the patrol car, Cruz tried to kick the same trooper she had punched earlier. Then, while officers tried to secure her in the patrol vehicle, she kicked an ICE officer and a U.S. Customs Air and Marine Interdiction agent, according to the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to Cruz\u2019s continued violent resistance, a taser was deployed in drive-stun mode without effect, and she was placed in a hobble restraint for safety,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n

According to the report, the trooper who was punched in the face required hospital treatment.<\/p>\n

Cruz was transported to Duval County jail and later released on bail. <\/p>\n

Federal arrest<\/b><\/p>\n

Cruz was arrested again after being indicted on the federal charge.<\/p>\n

According to FHP, Cruz was a passenger in a car that was stopped by JSO during a traffic violation, and when the occupants\u2019 names were searched in the system, Cruz\u2019s name popped up with an active federal warrant.<\/p>\n

Cruz was arrested and taken into custody at the Duval County jail.<\/p>\n

News4JAX has requested the arrest report for Cruz\u2019s second arrest, and we are still waiting to hear back.<\/p>\n

Alan Ceballos, Cruz\u2019s lawyer, said that the legal team has a litany of evidence that will be presented at Monday\u2019s detention hearing that would qualify her for release under the 3144G Bail Reform Act.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be presenting that evidence, and we believe it will be persuasive to the court,\u201d Ceballos said.<\/p>\n

He also talked about how Cruz is handling everything since being arrested.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a first-time offender, so she\u2019s dealing with the stresses of being a mother of four, a business owner who\u2019s in custody, and she\u2019s overwhelmed by it, but she\u2019s being stoic and responsible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Caught on camera<\/b><\/p>\n

Dashcam videos circulating on social media since last Friday also provided more insight into Cruz\u2019s arrest, including a 13-second video shared by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier on X.<\/p>\n

RELATED | <\/b>Dashcam videos show woman kicking troopers before being hit with stun gun during ICE-related arrest on Beach Blvd.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

In that video, Cruz can be seen attempting to kick a trooper, but it doesn\u2019t connect. A trooper then slams Cruz on the hood of the patrol car as they put handcuffs on her, and then it ends.<\/p>\n

The videos that have been shared do not show the punch that Cruz is accused of in her arrest report.<\/p>\n

Uthmeier announced Cruz\u2019s arrest via X, formerly known as Twitter, and also shared a picture showing two agents arresting Cruz outside a Mi Pueblo Mexican grocery store.<\/p>\n

News4JAX spoke with Juan Alvarez, the owner of Mi Pueblo, who said he saw the violent encounter between Cruz and law enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I witnessed was a traffic stop by the state trooper,\u201d he said. \u201cICE agents showed up with the state trooper. They detained a driver, the person was driving, and so yeah, they had an operation going on, and after that, they had detained another person, but it seems they got into an altercation with that person. It turned violent, and that led to the presence of a lot more police, federal enforcement showing up.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also caught part of the arrest on camera. Press play below to watch the video<\/b><\/p>\n

Cruz\u2019s arrest came amid multiple recent reports of increased immigration enforcement across Northeast Florida.<\/p>\n

Gov. Ron DeSantis also addressed Cruz\u2019s arrest during a news conference in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not Minneapolis. This is not going to end well for you in Florida,\u201d DeSantis said. \u201cYou have a right to go out there and criticize government policy. You can go out there and protest within respected zones, but the idea that you\u2019re going to assault one of our troopers is unacceptable, and you are going to face consequences as a result of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A 41-year-old mother of four pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to punching a Florida…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":874365,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,22787,3188,723,5410,409,7310,231226,8423,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-874364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-america","tag-fhp","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-ice","tag-immigration","tag-jacksonville","tag-jennifer-cruz","tag-jso","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116767536919594870","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}