ICE agent accused of deliberately mowing down fleeing man with SUV in Texas
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A Texas prosecutor has launched a criminal investigation into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who allegedly used an SUV to deliberately run over a fleeing man in Houston, leaving him with a broken leg that required surgery.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said surveillance footage of Saturday’s incident appeared to show the federal agent intentionally striking 48-year-old Miguel Parra Hernandez, raising the possibility of aggravated assault charges.
“In a case like this, the most obvious criminal charge is aggravated assault with a deadly weapon,” Teare told FOX 26 Houston. “Meaning the car was used as a deadly weapon. And it certainly is what appears to have happened based on the surveillance footage.”
The footage shows Parra Hernandez and another person jumping out of a white truck and running away as a dark SUV pursues them. The vehicle then strikes Parra Hernandez, who is seen lying on the ground moments later.
ICE has disputed the suggestion that the collision was intentional, saying Parra Hernandez ran in front of the vehicle as officers attempted to detain him.
“As ICE officers attempted to apprehend the illegal aliens, Miguel Parra-Hernandez ran in front of an ICE vehicle and was struck,” Tim Oberle, an ICE spokesperson in Houston, said in a statement provided to The Texas Tribune.
Victim faces further surgery
Parra Hernandez, who has lived in the United States for 34 years, was on his way to work when the encounter unfolded, according to Cesar Espinosa, executive director of the immigrant rights organization FIEL Houston.
Espinosa said Parra Hernandez suffered a broken leg and underwent surgery following the collision. He is expected to require another operation to reconstruct his injured ankle.
“He already had a surgery for the injury under his knee and now we’re waiting for swelling to go down in his ankle to be able to have a reconstructive surgery on his ankle,” Espinosa said.
Espinosa, whose organization is assisting the family, declined to disclose Parra Hernandez’s immigration status.
He also said he encountered two ICE agents inside Parra Hernandez’s hospital room while visiting the injured man.
Prosecutor accuses ICE of refusing to cooperate
Teare, a Democrat, said ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the agency, have not cooperated with his office’s investigation.
DHS officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
The investigation comes amid heightened scrutiny of federal immigration enforcement operations in Houston and elsewhere under President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
Teare’s office previously investigated the fatal shooting of 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by an ICE officer in July.
The district attorney said DHS also failed to respond to his requests for information about that incident.
Salgado Araujo’s death was among at least 10 fatalities involving encounters with immigration officers since the beginning of Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
The latest incident has intensified criticism of federal immigration tactics, with local prosecutors now examining whether an ICE agent’s actions in Houston crossed the line into criminal conduct.
No criminal charges have been announced in connection with Saturday’s collision.
