ICE officer charged after striking fleeing Houston man with SUV
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Houston, TX - An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer was indicted Friday on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he was accused of intentionally striking a man with a vehicle during an enforcement operation in Houston.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office said Mario Alberto Morales was driving an unmarked black vehicle on Oct. 10 when it struck 48-year-old Miguel Parra Hernandez, who was running away after a traffic stop. Parra Hernandez was later placed in custody with a broken leg.
District Attorney Sean Teare said surveillance video contradicts ICE’s account that Parra Hernandez stepped in front of the vehicle. The footage shows a Jeep Cherokee speeding over a median and driving toward him as he runs. Another vehicle blocks the view of any impact, but the SUV appears to pass within inches of him. Parra Hernandez is then seen on the ground.
During a news conference Friday, Teare also played Morales’ body-camera footage. It shows Morales driving and talking about pursuing someone. At one point, the vehicle appears to shake as it goes over something. Morales then gets out and turns toward Parra Hernandez, who is on the ground holding his leg and yelling in pain.
Morales is heard saying, “He got hit with a car, bro,” and, “I was coming in, and I hit him with the car.”
Morales was not in custody Friday. Teare said a warrant would be issued for his arrest and that prosecutors had been in contact with the officer’s attorney.
Agents were trying to arrest Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, whom the agency described as having a criminal record and a final order of removal. ICE also said Mendoza-Cervantes was seen entering a vehicle with Parra Hernandez.
But Parra Hernandez’s family told the AP they had never heard of Mendoza-Cervantes. FIEL, an immigrant rights group in Houston, said his daughter told the group that her father had died in 2017 and that his real name was Jose Hector Jimenez. The Harris County district attorney’s office said its investigation had not found evidence that Parra Hernandez and the man ICE identified as Mendoza-Cervantes were in the same vehicle. ICE had not responded to those claims as of Friday.
FIEL said Parra Hernandez was driving the vehicle and Mendoza-Cervantes was a passenger when agents tried to pull them over in unmarked vehicles. The group said the men got out and ran after the vehicle stopped. ICE said Parra Hernandez “ran in front of an ICE vehicle and was struck” as agents tried to apprehend them.
FIEL executive director Cesar Espinosa said Parra Hernandez’s leg was broken in three places and he would need surgery. FIEL, which is working with Parra Hernandez’s family, said he had been in the U.S. for more than 30 years and was living in the country without authorization. Espinosa said the group hopes the indictment will help its effort to have Parra Hernandez released from custody.
Teare said the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, had not cooperated with his investigators. He also accused ICE of destroying evidence, either intentionally or through gross negligence, and said the officer who drove the SUV left the scene before the vehicle could be impounded.