An ICE officer is charged with assault for striking a man with a car in Houston
Oct 30, 2026, 8:37 AM
HOUSTON (AP) — A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer accused of intentionally ramming his car into a Mexican construction worker in Houston was indicted by a grand jury Friday on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, prosecutors said.
The officer, Mario Alberto Morales, was driving an unmarked SUV on Oct. 10 when he struck and ran over Miguel Parra Hernandez, 48, who was running away during a pursuit through a parking lot, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. Parra Hernandez broke his leg and remains in federal custody at a rehabilitation facility, said District Attorney Sean Teare, who announced the indictment at a news conference that included body camera video of the encounter and a recording of Morales calling 911.
ICE has asserted that Parra Hernandez ran in front of the vehicle, an account that Teare said is contradicted by video.
“The evidence we have in this case is as clear as any that I’ve ever prosecuted or investigated,” Teare said.
Morales, 33, is one of just a few federal officers who have faced criminal charges over their actions on the job during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, although other encounters have come under investigation, including a fatal shooting by an ICE officer this summer in Houston.
Morales’ attorney, David Lindenmuth, said his client did not commit a crime. He and ICE both said Morales did not intentionally strike Parra Hernandez and accused the Democratic district attorney of indicting Morales for political reasons.
“Mr. Morales is truly a good man, a former member of our military, that has given his entire life to public service either for his country or in or adjacent to law enforcement,” Lindenmuth told The Associated Press. “To have him charged for what was so clearly just an accident — the DA’s office, the DA himself, has invented a crime out of thin air.”
Teare hinted at concerns over Morales’ background but would not provide details.
Morales had worked as an ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officer for a little more than a year, Lindenmuth said.
Morales, who is charged with a second-degree felony, was not in custody Friday and a warrant will be issued for his arrest, according to Teare.
Parra Hernandez has lived in Harris County for more than 30 years and did not have a deportation order or criminal background, according to Teare.
He was in a vehicle that ICE tried to stop. He jumped out and was followed by Morales, who was in a Jeep Cherokee. Previously released surveillance video shows the Jeep speed over a median and drive toward Parra Hernandez as he runs away.
Morales’ body camera footage that Teare played Friday shows the officer making a few sharp moves with the steering wheel before the SUV shakes. Morales stops the vehicle, then gets out and turns toward Parra Hernandez, who is several feet away. Parra Hernandez is on the ground and grabbing his leg, yelling in pain.
Morales is heard saying, “He got hit with a car, bro.” It is not clear to whom he is talking.
“I was coming in and I hit him with the car,” Morales says after another ICE officer arrives.
In a 911 audio recording in which Morales requests an ambulance, Parra Hernandez can be heard yelling. Morales tells the operator, “He’s fine. He’s just complaining of pain.”
Parra Hernandez told deputies that he believed a police officer was stopping the vehicle he was in but got scared and fled when the man started putting on a mask.
He repeatedly told deputies that Morales “threw the car at me,” according to a Harris County Sheriff’s Office incident report reviewed by the AP.
Morales told deputies he did not intentionally hit Parra Hernandez. He acknowledged that he did not brake before hitting Parra Hernandez and said he was trying to avoid another truck in the parking lot.
Body camera video indicated that Morales had two other suspects in custody in his backseat, according to the report. But the deputy wrote that Morales told them there was no one else inside.
“From the beginning the video told a different story than what was offered by the agency,” Parra Hernandez’s attorney, Kim Bruno, said Friday, adding that her client has suffered not just fractures in his leg, but nerve damage and chronic pain.
Other aspects of ICE’s account have also been called into question.
After Parra Hernandez was taken into custody, ICE released a photo of another man, Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, and said he was the target of the operation that day. ICE said he was seen entering a vehicle with Parra Hernandez. Family members of Parra Hernandez said they had never heard of him. FIEL, an immigrant rights group in Houston that has been working with the family, said Mendoza-Cervantes’ daughter told them her father has been dead since 2017.
Teare’s office has previously said its investigation has not found that Parra Hernandez and the man ICE identified as Mendoza-Cervantes were in a vehicle together, contrary to ICE’s statement.
ICE has not responded to claims that the suspect they were looking for has been dead for years.
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Wilder reported from Austin, Texas. Brook reported from New Orleans.
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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 report on undercovered issues.
