HOUSTON — A Harris County grand jury on Friday indicted a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer accused of intentionally striking a fleeing man with an unmarked SUV during an immigration operation earlier this month.
Mario Alberto Morales faces a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, with the vehicle identified as the alleged weapon. ABC News reported that the charge is a second-degree felony. An indictment is a formal accusation, not a finding of guilt, and Morales is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
The case stems from an Oct. 10 pursuit near Clay Road and Highway 6 in the Houston area. According to reporting by The Texas Tribune and KPRC 2, Miguel Parra Hernandez, 48, ran from a pickup truck after federal agents pursued it during an enforcement operation targeting another person they believed was inside.
Surveillance video showed a black SUV following Parra Hernandez through a parking lot before striking him. ABC News reported that he suffered multiple fractures to his right leg and required hospitalization.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said prosecutors reviewed surveillance footage, body-camera video and other evidence before presenting the case to the grand jury. At a Friday news conference, Teare described the evidence as unusually clear and said the footage showed the vehicle being used deliberately.
The Department of Homeland Security previously disputed that account. DHS said Parra Hernandez ran in front of the vehicle and called allegations that the collision was intentional “reckless and false,” according to KPRC 2. The outlet reported that defense attorneys and DHS were contacted for comment after the indictment.
The investigation also raised questions about access to the SUV. KPRC 2 reported that agents drove the vehicle from the scene before local investigators finished their work. A Harris County judge later approved a search warrant for the SUV, but investigators said in court records that DHS and ICE had not provided access as of Oct. 23. Teare said moving the vehicle may have erased crash-data recordings that could have been relevant to the case.
Federal officials initially said agents were looking for a man with a deportation order who was believed to be in the pickup. The Texas Tribune reported that a relative later told The New York Times the man agents named had died nearly a decade earlier.
The indictment is significant because it moves the dispute from competing public accounts into a criminal court process. A Harris County jury could eventually be asked to decide whether the vehicle strike was intentional and whether the evidence proves the aggravated-assault charge beyond a reasonable doubt.
The case also arrives amid heightened scrutiny of immigration enforcement in Houston and across Texas. Community advocates have pressed local officials to investigate alleged misconduct involving federal agents, while federal authorities have defended expanded enforcement operations as necessary to carry out immigration law.
No trial date was immediately announced. The case is developing, and additional court filings are expected to clarify the defense response and the next steps in the prosecution.
