LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a criminal case against a popular Los Angeles TikTok streamer, citing constitutional violations after his lawyers were denied access to him while he was in immigration detention.

U.S. District Judge Fernando Olguin issued a ruling Saturday dismissing an indictment against Carlitos Ricardo Parias, who is known for documenting police and immigration enforcement activity online. Parias’ rights were violated when federal authorities repeatedly failed to allow his criminal defense lawyers to visit or speak with him in immigration detention so he could prepare for trial this week, Olguin wrote, adding that the dismissal was with prejudice, which prevents the government from refiling the same charges against him again.

“In short, the government’s failure to coordinate the overlapping actions of its separate agencies while relentlessly pursuing Mr. Parias’s criminal proceedings created a situation from which constitutional violations could — and did — occur,” Olguin wrote.

FILE – In this photo provided by the office of Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price, Carlitos Ricardo Parias, left, receives a certificate of recognition from Jose Ugarte, chief of staff for Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price in Los Angeles, Aug. 2025. (Office of Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price via AP)

The U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles said in a statement that the agency is evaluating its options for appeal. “We strongly disagree with the court’s version of the facts as well as its legal conclusions,” the statement said.

Parias was indicted last month and pleaded not guilty to charges of assault on a federal officer using a deadly or dangerous weapon and depredation of government property.

The charges stemmed from an October incident in which federal authorities said Parias rammed his vehicle into theirs while they tried to arrest him on an immigration warrant and shot him in the elbow. Parias was released on bond pending his trial and taken to an immigration detention facility in Adelanto, California, where he remained Monday, according to the government’s online database. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility is about 70 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles and run by The GEO Group.

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U.S. authorities say Parias is a Mexican citizen living in the country illegally. A message seeking comment was left for immigration attorney Carlos Jurado.

Parias is well-known in South Los Angeles for his Spanish-language videos posted on TikTok on two accounts with more than 340,000 combined followers. Videos on his page dating back to 2024 document police activity, car accidents and fires, as well as tortilla-making and rainy days in Los Angeles. This year, the footage has also focused on demonstrations against immigration enforcement and arrests by federal deportation authorities.

Parias is one of many social media users who post about immigration raids and arrests across Southern California, often relaying information in real time to alert community members. He was hospitalized initially after he was shot during his October arrest.

Wind-swept snows barely began to fall on Sunday when the cries went out on social media channels across St. Paul. From Facebook to NextDoor, homeowners demanded to know why Minneapolis had called a snow emergency but the capital city had not.

St. Paul did activate its 24-hour snow emergency protocol, but not until the next day, with some 60 snow plow drivers scheduled to focus on designated “Night Plow” routes beginning at 9 p.m. Monday. A winter story dropped up to 6 inches of snow on the Twin Cities Sunday and slippery roads and windy conditions made for tricky travel into Monday’s commutes.

A snow emergency sign in St. Paul. (Andy Rathbun / Pioneer Press)

Why the 24-hour delay for St. Paul?

For St. Paul Public Works Director Sean Kershaw, it’s a familiar question. The answer is “more art than science,” acknowledged Kershaw, who confers with the National Weather Service and works with a team of city officials to weigh forecasted snowfall volume, the type of snow and temperatures before and after an expected storm.

Then there’s special events to consider, such as the 29-game World Junior Ice Hockey Championships bringing visitors from 10 countries into town for the next week, as well as upcoming New Year’s Eve festivities.

Timing

St. Paul officials usually wait until the day of a snow emergency to declare one based on the latest information, while trying to avoid announcing an emergency after 3 p.m. or so to give residents time to move their cars.

Minneapolis maintains a three-day approach toward snow emergencies that sends plows to designated routes after 9 p.m. on the first night, the even sides of non-snow emergency routes the next morning and the odd sides on the third day.

With St. Paul snow emergencies are technically 96 hours long, the capital city tries to accomplish the same push in just the first 24 hours, Kershaw explained. That means plowing on major thoroughfares dubbed arterial and collector streets even before the first phase of a snow emergency is called, and then hitting designated snow plow routes — which constitute about half the city’s north-south residential corridors — beginning at 9 p.m. of Day 1.

In short: the two cities will overlap and align in their approach, more or less, right around Monday night.

In Minneapolis, “their first phase is the same as what we were doing last night — the arterials and collectors,” said Kershaw on Monday morning. “They called there’s first, but in practice we were both doing the same thing. We will each be on residential streets starting tonight.”

New Year’s Eve, staffing

Kershaw noted that Minneapolis officials took care to not to schedule their snow emergency into Wednesday, which is New Year’s Eve, to avoid confusing visitors. With its three-day system, waiting longer than Sunday would have done exactly that.

“If they had started tonight, they would have completed their’s on New year’s Eve,” said Kershaw on Monday.

In St. Paul, staffing poses another constraint. Kershaw pulls plow drivers from city forestry teams, sewer teams, and anywhere else he can find a trained and credentialed plow driver. It’s still not enough.

“With the staffing we have, we couldn’t simultaneously stay on the arterials and collectors and then quickly bring those snow plow drivers back to begin the night phase,” said Kershaw, on Monday morning. “The night phase is half the north-south residentials, and then the arterials and collectors (again).”

Tickets, tows

The city has attempted to get residents to move their cars a variety of ways, including traditional media to social media, opt-in emails and text messages in multiple languages, and robo-calls using Everbridge Resident Connection, which combs through publicly available phone numbers within the city boundaries.

Still, plenty of residents complain that towing is lax along certain streets, making it impossible to fully plow them.

The court system was overwhelmed entering handwritten parking tickets into its system after record snowfalls in 2022-2023, so St. Paul this year switched to electronic tickets issued from police squad cars, utilizing civilian “runners” to distribute printed copies. That seems to be increasing tow volumes.

During the first snow emergency of the season, which ran from Nov. 30 to Dec. 4, the city issued more than 3,200 tickets and 900 tows — a record during Kershaw’s time as Public Works director, and possibly for the city.

“We’re doing as many tickets and tows as we have in the past,” Kershaw said. “It’s working better.”

Testing odd/even parking

Still, Kershaw said he’s the first to acknowledge that St. Paul’s snow emergency system is far from perfect.

This is the second consecutive year in which the city will be testing out an even/odd winter parking system in two parts of the city — a designated area surrounding Snelling and University avenues and another around Selby and Western avenues. Beginning Sunday, residents will be expected to move their cars to one side of the street, alternating back and forth weekly into April.

City officials rolled out the pilot parking program in two parts of Highland and Payne-Phalen last year, and reported promising results. This year’s designated areas are, by design, more densely populated, heavily trafficked or just plain hairier, and city officials have already gotten an earful from some residents opposed to the changes.

Kershaw remains optimistic. With cars parked on alternate sides of the street but never both sides at the same time, plows would have easier access to the other side of the street throughout the season. In theory, a snow emergency might never have to be called.

Even/odd parking also will boost plow access in situations where snowfall continues or resumes after the first two phases of a traditional snow emergency are done, which was the case with a storm that arrived just after Thanksgiving Day.

For more information on how to sign up for the city’s snow emergency alerts, visit stpaul.gov/snow.

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It’s still unclear if quarterback J.J. McCarthy will be available for the Vikings when they host the Green Bay Packers on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium.

He missed the 23-10 win over the Detroit Lions on Christmas due to a hairline fracture in his right hand, and while the swelling has gone down as he’s continued to receive treatment, head coach Kevin O’Connell would not give a definitive update regarding McCarthy’s availability for this weekend.

“He’s progressing,” O’Connell said. “It’s just going to be about working throughout it this week and seeing what his grip strength is like.”

Briefly

It doesn’t sound like rookie receiver Myles Price (ankle) and rookie defensive tackle Elijah Williams (ankle) will be available for the Vikings against the Packers.

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On the day a woman was killed in her rural Dakota County home, it was her 26th birthday and Christmas Eve.

The county attorney’s office charged Demarco Marquie Jones, 29, on Monday with murder. The criminal complaint said he was the boyfriend of Tatianna “Tayah” Ehnes-Giles and the father of her two young children.

Tatianna “Tayah” Ehnes-Giles (Courtesy of the family)

Dakota County sheriff’s deputies responded Wednesday about 2:20 p.m. to a double shooting in Castle Rock Township, south of Farmington. They found Ehnes-Giles dead from a gunshot wound, and Jones wounded with a gunshot to the head.

Jones was transported to a hospital alive, and Sheriff Joe Leko said last week they are investigating the case as a homicide and attempted suicide.

Ehnes-Giles’ sister remembered her Monday as having “the most beautiful soul.”

“Amazing mother, daughter, sister, aunt and friend,” said Leah Walde. “She would have never willingly left her kids behind. She lived for those children.”

Shot at family home

Ehnes-Giles lived in a triplex with Jones and their children, and other family members lived in other parts of the residence. The home is on 250th Street West near Chippendale Avenue.

Ehnes-Giles’ mother called 911 Wednesday and reported Jones shot her daughter in the head, according to the criminal complaint.

Deputies found Jones inside the residence with blood on his hands and back of his head; he was able to verbally respond to deputies and tell them the gun was “in the room.” Ehnes-Giles was lying on the bed in her bedroom, where she was pronounced dead.

Always with family

Ehnes-Giles’ family wrote in her obituary: “You could always find Tayah doing something with her family. She especially loved the 4th of July event she hosted every year. Tayah loved the fall and spending time outside having bonfires.”

She’d started working at the Buckboard Restaurant in Lakeville as a teenager, where she “was a well-loved waitress for eight years,” her obituary said.

A GoFundMe (gofund.me/fdcd93341) has been set up for Ehnes-Giles’ funeral expenses and to help care for her children. A fundraiser is being planned for Jan. 25, 3-6 p.m., at Celts Pub in Farmington.

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