An ICE officer is charged with assault for striking a man with a car in
Houston
[October 31, 2026]
By ANNA WILDER, JACK BROOK and LEKAN OYEKANMI
HOUSTON (AP) — A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer
accused of intentionally ramming his car into a Mexican construction
worker in Houston was indicted by a grand jury Friday on a charge of
aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, prosecutors said.
The officer, Mario Alberto Morales, was driving an unmarked SUV on Oct.
10 when he struck and ran over Miguel Parra Hernandez, 48, who was
running away during a pursuit through a parking lot, according to the
Harris County District Attorney’s Office. Parra Hernandez broke his leg
and remains in federal custody at a rehabilitation facility, said
District Attorney Sean Teare, who announced the indictment at a news
conference that included body camera video of the encounter and a
recording of Morales calling 911.
ICE has asserted that Parra Hernandez ran in front of the vehicle, an
account that Teare said is contradicted by video.
“The evidence we have in this case is as clear as any that I’ve ever
prosecuted or investigated,” Teare said.
Morales, 33, is one of just a few federal officers who have faced
criminal charges over their actions on the job during President Donald
Trump’s immigration crackdown, although other encounters have come under
investigation, including a fatal shooting by an ICE officer this summer
in Houston.
Morales’ attorney, David Lindenmuth, said his client did not commit a
crime. He and ICE both said Morales did not intentionally strike Parra
Hernandez and accused the Democratic district attorney of indicting
Morales for political reasons.
“Mr. Morales is truly a good man, a former member of our military, that
has given his entire life to public service either for his country or in
or adjacent to law enforcement,” Lindenmuth told The Associated Press.
“To have him charged for what was so clearly just an accident — the DA’s
office, the DA himself, has invented a crime out of thin air.”
Teare hinted at concerns over Morales’ background but would not provide
details.
Morales had worked as an ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officer
for a little more than a year, Lindenmuth said.
Morales, who is charged with a second-degree felony, was not in custody
Friday and a warrant will be issued for his arrest, according to Teare.
The district attorney played Morales' body camera footage and 911
call
Parra Hernandez has lived in Harris County for more than 30 years and
did not have a deportation order or criminal background, according to
Teare.
He was in a vehicle that ICE tried to stop. He jumped out and was
followed by Morales, who was in a Jeep Cherokee. Previously released
surveillance video shows the Jeep speed over a median and drive toward
Parra Hernandez as he runs away.
Morales' body camera footage that Teare played Friday shows the officer
making a few sharp moves with the steering wheel before the SUV shakes.
Morales stops the vehicle, then gets out and turns toward Parra
Hernandez, who is several feet away. Parra Hernandez is on the ground
and grabbing his leg, yelling in pain.
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Cesar Espinosa, FIEL executive director, center, speaks during a
news conference at FIEL in Houston, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, about the
indictment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Mario
Alberto Morales by a Harris County grand jury. (Melissa
Phillip/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Morales is heard saying, “He got hit with a car, bro.” It is not
clear to whom he is talking.
“I was coming in and I hit him with the car,” Morales says after
another ICE officer arrives.
In a 911 audio recording in which Morales requests an ambulance,
Parra Hernandez can be heard yelling. Morales tells the operator,
“He’s fine. He’s just complaining of pain.”
Parra Hernandez told police Morales ‘threw the car’ at him
Parra Hernandez told deputies that he believed a police officer was
stopping the vehicle he was in but got scared and fled when the man
started putting on a mask.
He repeatedly told deputies that Morales “threw the car at me,”
according to a Harris County Sheriff’s Office incident report
reviewed by the AP.
Morales told deputies he did not intentionally hit Parra Hernandez.
He acknowledged that he did not brake before hitting Parra Hernandez
and said he was trying to avoid another truck in the parking lot.
Body camera video indicated that Morales had two other suspects in
custody in his backseat, according to the report. But the deputy
wrote that Morales told them there was no one else inside.
“From the beginning the video told a different story than what was
offered by the agency,” Parra Hernandez's attorney, Kim Bruno, said
Friday, adding that her client has suffered not just fractures in
his leg, but nerve damage and chronic pain.
Family says ICE was looking for a dead person during operation
Other aspects of ICE's account have also been called into question.
After Parra Hernandez was taken into custody, ICE released a photo
of another man, Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, and said he was the target
of the operation that day. ICE said he was seen entering a vehicle
with Parra Hernandez. Family members of Parra Hernandez said they
had never heard of him. FIEL, an immigrant rights group in Houston
that has been working with the family, said Mendoza-Cervantes'
daughter told them her father has been dead since 2017.
Teare’s office has previously said its investigation has not found
that Parra Hernandez and the man ICE identified as Mendoza-Cervantes
were in a vehicle together, contrary to ICE’s statement.
ICE has not responded to claims that the suspect they were looking
for has been dead for years.
___
Wilder reported from Austin, Texas. Brook reported from New Orleans.
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