HOUSTON — Local prosecutors in Texas have opened an independent criminal investigation into a federal immigration agent who appeared to intentionally run down a fleeing man with an SUV over the weekend, authorities announced.
The incident occurred around 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10, near Highway 6 North and Clay Road in Harris County. Miguel Parra Hernandez, 48, suffered severe fractures to his leg and ankle when an unmarked Jeep Cherokee operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement struck him, according to community advocates and officials.
Surveillance footage gathered by investigators shows Parra Hernandez running across a shopping center parking lot as an SUV follows him, cuts across a median and veers in his direction before knocking him to the pavement, local media reported.
“This was an intentional striking and running over of the person by the vehicle, and in that case, that is an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Texas,” Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare told NBC News.
Dispute Over Scene and Vehicle Data
Teare, a Democrat who previously led the county’s vehicular crimes division, said the federal government has refused to cooperate with his office and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. He told reporters that investigators identified the driver but were blocked from accessing the vehicle involved in the collision.
According to Teare, prosecutors were drafting a search warrant to preserve the vehicle’s crash data recorder when the agent who had been driving drove the Jeep away from the scene. Teare said moving the car risked erasing crucial diagnostic information regarding steering, braking and speed.
Federal authorities offered a sharply different account. In an initial statement sent to local news organizations, ICE spokesperson Tim Oberle said agents were attempting to detain individuals when Parra Hernandez ran directly in front of an ICE vehicle and was hit. On Tuesday, an agency spokesperson told NBC News that allegations of an intentional collision were “reckless and false.”
Teare also revealed that two other individuals detained from a separate operation were sitting in the back seat of the ICE SUV when the collision occurred, an action he called unsafe and contrary to standard law enforcement practices.
Victim Was Not Target of Enforcement
Parra Hernandez has lived in the U.S. for 34 years and has no criminal record, according to his attorney, Kim Bruno, and Cesar Espinosa, executive director of the advocacy group FIEL Houston. They said he was riding to a stucco construction job with a co-worker when the encounter started.
ICE acknowledged that Parra Hernandez was not the target of the stop, saying agents were attempting to arrest Jose Mendoza Cervantes, a man facing a final order of removal. However, Bruno told reporters that neither Parra Hernandez nor his companion had ever met Mendoza Cervantes.
Espinosa said Parra Hernandez fled because the pursuing vehicle was unmarked, had tinted windows and did not activate emergency lights or sirens. Parra Hernandez underwent surgery on his leg and remains hospitalized in ICE custody awaiting additional reconstructive procedures, Espinosa told the Associated Press.
The confrontation follows new guidance issued by the Trump administration earlier this month prohibiting vehicle pursuits when motorists refuse to stop and requiring agents conducting vehicle stops to undergo specialized training and wear activated body cameras. A Department of Homeland Security official told NBC News that officers at the Houston scene wore body cameras and an internal review is underway.
Teare said charging decisions will come quickly, though local investigators have not yet interviewed Parra Hernandez or the two detainees who witnessed the crash from the back seat.
