ICE agent indicted after hitting man during Texas traffic stop

Mario Alberto Morales, a 33-year-old agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, faces a formal charge for deliberately driving his vehicle into a pedestrian during a failed arrest in Texas.

The Harris County district attorney's office announced the indictment for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on Friday. The incident occurred on October 10, when Morales was pursuing a pickup truck in an unmarked Jeep Cherokee. Surveillance footage showed the SUV swerving into Miguel Parra Hernandez, a 48-year-old Mexican construction worker, who was running across a restaurant parking lot. Parra Hernandez suffered multiple leg fractures and a hip injury. He had no criminal record and no active deportation order at the time of the collision.

Sean Teare, the Harris County district attorney, presented the case as evidence of a pattern of conduct within the agency. He noted that a grand jury returned the indictment after hearing what he described as clear evidence. Teare highlighted that Morales was hired by ICE in August 2025 during a rapid expansion of the agency's presence in several U.S. cities. The prosecutor said he had reviewed thousands of law enforcement resumes in the state and was unfamiliar with any agency that would have hired Morales based on his past. Teare also stated he had not received the agent's training records.

Sheriff Ed Gonzalez provided additional details at the press conference, revealing that the SUV contained two handcuffed detainees from a previous operation when it struck Parra Hernandez. Gonzalez stated that no law enforcement agency would typically deem it acceptable to transport handcuffed and shackled individuals in the backseat during a high-speed pursuit. He argued that the limited movement of the detainees made the situation unsafe for everyone in the vehicle.

ICE disputed the local prosecution, with a spokesperson calling the allegation of intentional impact "reckless and false." The agency described the indictment as a political stunt by local officials who do not cooperate with federal authorities. The spokesperson maintained that federal officers acting in their duties should only be investigated by other federal agencies. In a 911 call made immediately after the crash, Morales told the dispatcher that Parra Hernandez ran in front of his vehicle. ICE released a similar official account the day after the incident.

The case has intensified scrutiny of ICE operations in the region. Teare's office is also investigating a fatal shooting in July involving Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, another individual who was not the intended target. Teare noted that ICE deported at least two material witnesses from the Parra Hernandez case within a week of the accident, over the prosecutor's objection. Parra Hernandez remains in ICE custody while recovering in a rehab facility, and his lawyers say he will require numerous surgeries. The agency's target in the October 10 incident, identified as Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, has not been located. However, an immigration advocacy group stated that the photo released by ICE showed Jose Hector Jimenez, who died in 2017.