A Texas grand jury has returned an indictment for an ICE officer who struck a pedestrian with his vehicle while searching for an illegal immigrant earlier this month.
Mario Morales, 33, faces a felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, which was the officer’s unmarked vehicle.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, a Democrat, unveiled the charge on Friday after he opened an investigation into the incident. Body-camera footage showed the vehicle hitting Mexican national Miguel Parra-Hernandez, 48, during a vehicle pursuit in Houston on Oct. 10.
“The evidence that we have in this case is as clear as any that I’ve prosecuted or investigated,” Teare said at a press conference.
Parra-Hernandez suffered injuries to his hip, leg, and ankle following the collision. Immigration and Customs Enforcement alleged he ran in front of the vehicle, but video evidence shows the officer may have deliberately run over the man. ICE denied the accusation that Morales intentionally struck Parra-Hernandez.
ICE was seeking to arrest Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, who was supposedly in the same vehicle with Parra-Hernandez and another man before they fled on foot. However, Mendoza-Cervantes’s daughter said her father died in 2017.
Though he wasn’t the intended target, Parra-Hernandez had been living in Houston for over 30 years without legal authorization.
The indictment marks the first attempt to criminally prosecute an ICE officer in Texas. Christian Castro, a deportation officer based in Minnesota, was previously charged in the January shooting of a 24-year-old Venezuelan national.
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Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX), whose district covers much of eastern Houston, thanked Teare for filing a criminal charge against the ICE officer.
“Today, Miguel Parra-Hernandez is one step closer to receiving the justice he deserves,” she posted on X. “The grand jury’s decision sends a powerful message to our community: even at a time when so much feels out of control, when our communities feel under attack, we are reminded that no one is above the law.”
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
