Texas Grand Jury Indicts ICE Officer Accused of Running Over Fleeing Man in Houston

A Harris County grand jury on Friday, Oct. 30, indicted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Mario Alberto Morales on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, accusing him of driving an unmarked SUV into a fleeing man during an Oct. 10 pursuit in northwest Houston, the Harris County District Attorney's Office said. The charge is a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison, according to FOX 26 Houston. Morales and ICE deny that he struck the man on purpose.

The man, Miguel Parra Hernandez, 48, broke his leg and remains in federal custody at a rehabilitation facility, District Attorney Sean Teare said at a news conference, according to The Associated Press. "The evidence we have in this case is as clear as any that I’ve ever prosecuted or investigated," Teare said. The Houston Chronicle reported that Morales, 33, is believed to be the first federal agent charged in Texas over an incident tied to the Trump administration's expanded immigration enforcement.

What prosecutors say the video shows

According to the AP, Parra Hernandez was in a pickup truck that ICE tried to stop near Clay Road and Texas 6. He and another man got out and ran, and Morales followed in a Jeep Cherokee. Teare played body camera footage synchronized with surveillance video from a nearby business. In the body camera video, the officer can be heard saying, "Got a runner, got a runner," before appearing to turn the steering wheel toward Parra Hernandez, ABC News reported.

"As you can clearly see, Morales aggressively steered his vehicle into Parra Hernandez. Not only did he hit Mr. Hernandez, he ran over both of his legs, leaving him seriously injured and hospitalized to this day," Teare said, according to ABC News. The AP reported that after another ICE officer arrived, Morales said, "I was coming in and I hit him with the car." The other man escaped.

Teare also released a recording of a 911 call in which Morales requested an ambulance. "I tried to get around him, and he hit my car," Morales told the dispatcher, according to The Texas Tribune, and he said Parra Hernandez was "just complaining of pain." Reuters, in a report carried by StreetInsider, said the district attorney's office announced the indictment in a post on its website and released copies of 911 calls and video from the incident.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said two handcuffed people were in the back seat of Morales' vehicle before the crash. "I know of no law enforcement agency that would deem that to be acceptable," Gonzalez said, according to the Tribune. Teare said Morales was hired in 2025 as part of an ICE hiring surge and raised concerns about his background without giving details, the Tribune reported. Teare also said two detained witnesses have since been deported.

According to the BBC, Teare said Parra Hernandez has lived in Texas for more than 30 years and had no criminal record or deportation order. A separate Chronicle timeline said he was left with a broken leg, a fractured ankle and injuries to his hip and below his knee, and required multiple surgeries.

ICE, defense and federal prosecutor push back

An ICE spokesperson called the indictment "nothing more than a political stunt by Houston Sanctuary politicians," according to ABC News. "Allegations that ICE struck Miguel Parra-Hernandez intentionally are reckless and false," the statement said, as quoted by the Tribune. In a statement to Houston Public Media, ICE said "federal officers acting in the course of their duties can only be investigated by other federal agencies." Teare called that claim "patently false."

Morales' attorney, David Lindenmuth, told FOX 26 that his client is innocent and that the crash was an accident. "This is an unfortunate accident. It is not a good thing to happen, but it is not a crime," Lindenmuth said, adding that Morales was trying to avoid striking another vehicle. "We will be surrendering him on the warrant on Monday," he told the station; FOX 26 reported that the planned surrender date is Monday, Nov. 2. The Chronicle reported that Lindenmuth expects proceedings that could move the case to federal court because Morales is a federal employee.

Aaron Reitz, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said he saw "no basis for federal charges at this time," Houston Public Media reported. "This time, he's pursuing what looks like a political prosecution of an ICE agent for doing his job — exactly what his allies have been agitating for," Reitz said in a press release, according to the station.

Disputed account and next steps

ICE has said Parra Hernandez ran in front of the vehicle, an account Teare said is contradicted by video, the AP reported. ICE also said its agents were seeking a man named Jose Mendoza-Cervantes. FIEL, a Houston immigrant rights group, said his daughter told them he has been dead since 2017, according to the AP. "From the beginning the video told a different story than what was offered by the agency," said Kim Bruno, an attorney for Parra Hernandez.

KPRC 2 reported that, according to a search warrant affidavit, ICE officers left the scene with the vehicle before the investigation ended, and that as of Oct. 23, DHS and ICE had been "unresponsive" to a warrant to examine it. Teare's office is also investigating the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by an ICE agent in Houston, the Tribune reported.