An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer has been indicted over the alleged use of his vehicle to strike a man during an operation in north-west Houston, Texas.
Mario Alberto Morales faces a second-degree felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. If convicted, he could be sentenced to between two and 20 years in prison.
The indictment relates to the October 10 incident in which Miguel Parra Hernandez, 48, was hit by an unmarked ICE vehicle near Clay Road and Highway 6.
ICE agent indicted after Houston crash
Authorities said ICE agents had been pursuing a white truck containing two men. The truck was travelling on the wrong side of Clay Road before stopping, after which both men fled on foot.
One man escaped by running east along Clay Road. Parra Hernandez was struck by Morales’s vehicle as he ran through a nearby area.
He suffered a broken leg and underwent surgery. Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said on Friday that he remained in hospital.
Prosecutors released previously unseen body-camera footage during a news conference announcing the indictment. The footage shows Parra Hernandez on the ground after the collision, while a 911 call from the scene was also played.
The district attorney’s office said Morales was among a group of “surge hires” brought into ICE in August 2025 and that it had not received records relating to his training.
The prosecution alleges that the vehicle was used as the deadly weapon. An indictment is a formal accusation and does not establish guilt.
ICE disputed the allegations and questioned the authority of local officials to investigate a federal officer.
“This is nothing more than a political stunt by Houston sanctuary politicians,” an ICE spokesperson said. The agency added that claims Morales had intentionally struck Parra Hernandez were “reckless and false”.
ICE said agents had been attempting to arrest another man, Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, who it identified as being unlawfully present in the United States and having four previous arrests.
Parra Hernandez’s lawyer, Kim Bruno, has said her client did not know Mendoza-Cervantes and that the wanted man was not in the truck.
The New York Times subsequently reported that Mendoza-Cervantes’s daughter had provided a death certificate showing that a man with the same name died in 2017.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office has made the body-camera footage and 911 call available as the criminal case proceeds.
