ICE Officer Charged After Striking Man With Car in Houston

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer accused of deliberately driving into a Mexican construction worker in Houston was charged Friday with aggravated assault involving a deadly weapon, prosecutors said.

Mario Alberto Morales was driving an unmarked black vehicle on Oct. 10 when it struck Miguel Parra Hernandez, 48, as he fled, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. Parra Hernandez was later taken into custody with a broken leg.

The criminal case is unusual amid President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Few federal officers have faced criminal charges over actions taken in the field, though several encounters have prompted investigations.

Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, a Democrat, brought the case. His office is also investigating the July fatal shooting of a Mexican homebuilder, an incident that sparked protests in Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the indictment against Morales.

The agency has said Parra Hernandez stepped into the vehicle’s path and called claims that the officer intentionally hit him false and “reckless.” Teare, however, has said surveillance video directly conflicts with ICE’s account.

The footage shows a Jeep Cherokee speeding across a median and moving toward Parra Hernandez as he runs away. Another vehicle blocks the actual impact, but the video shows the SUV passing within inches of him before he is seen lying on the ground.

Family says ICE was searching for someone who had died

Questions have also emerged about other parts of ICE’s explanation of the operation.

ICE released a photograph of another man, Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, identifying him as the target of the operation and saying he had been seen getting into a vehicle with Parra Hernandez. Relatives of Parra Hernandez said they had never heard of Mendoza-Cervantes. FIEL, a Houston immigrant rights organization, said Mendoza-Cervantes’ daughter told the group that her father died in 2017 and that his actual name was Jose Hector Jimenez.

Teare’s office has also said its investigation found no evidence that Parra Hernandez and the man identified by ICE as Mendoza-Cervantes were together in a vehicle, contradicting the agency’s statement.

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ICE has not addressed the allegation that the person agents were seeking had been dead for nearly a decade.

Parra Hernandez had lived in the United States for more than 30 years. FIEL, which is assisting his family, said he was living in the country without authorization.

Houston shooting death from summer remains under investigation

Teare said the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has refused to cooperate with his investigators. He also accused the agency of destroying evidence, either deliberately or through “gross negligence.” According to Teare, the ICE officer driving the SUV left the scene before investigators could impound the vehicle.

Teare said DHS likewise disregarded requests for information after an ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in July. DHS has said Salgado Araujo “weaponized his vehicle” before the shooting and that the officer acted in self-defense. Other people who were inside the van have challenged that account.

Teare has not said when his office expects to finish investigating the shooting. In September, a witness was seen entering a courthouse area designated for grand jury proceedings.

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Wilder reported from Austin.

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Wilder is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to cover issues that receive too little attention.