A Texas grand jury has returned a felony indictment against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, accusing him of striking a man with a vehicle during an operation in Houston earlier this month. Mario Alberto Morales, 33, faces a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the Oct. 10 incident involving 48-year-old Miguel Parra-Hernandez.
According to prosecutors, Morales pursued Parra-Hernandez using a Jeep Grand Cherokee while federal agents were actually searching for a different individual. Video footage from the scene captured Parra-Hernandez groaning in pain following the collision, which left him with multiple leg injuries, including a broken leg.
Body camera footage obtained from the encounter reportedly includes audio of Morales stating, “Like, I was coming in, and I hit him with the car.”
Prosecutors stated that Parra-Hernandez is a Mexican national with no criminal record and no active deportation order against him. Following the incident, an agency spokesperson claimed that the victim had run in front of the vehicle.
However, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare sharply disputed that account during a press conference on Friday. Teare asserted that Morales deliberately steered his vehicle into the victim, stating that the available proof is among the clearest he has encountered.
“The evidence that we have in this case is as clear as any that I’ve ever prosecuted or investigated,” Teare told reporters. “An ICE badge does not give you free rein to injure, kill, or violate the constitutional rights of anyone.”
The indictment follows mounting scrutiny over federal law enforcement tactics. Separately, activists gathered at the Mariachi Plaza in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles on Saturday night to protest the fatal shooting of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by Customs and Border Protection officers.
