HOUSTON (AP) — A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer appeared to intentionally drive a vehicle into a Mexican construction worker in Houston then fled the scene, a prosecutor said Wednesday, rejecting the agency’s claim the man stepped in front of the vehicle while running from authorities.
A family member of Miguel Parra Hernandez, 48, also disputed the identity of a man who ICE says was with him and had been the target of Saturday’s operation, saying they had never seen or heard of that person before.
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Both called into question the details provided by ICE surrounding the encounter that has added fuel to fiery criticism of immigration enforcement operations in Houston, where local prosecutors are already investigating a July fatal shooting by a federal immigration officer.
Surveillance footage shows a black SUV speeding over a median and driving toward a man who is running away. The video does not show the car hitting him — that view is blocked by another vehicle — but it shows the SUV inches from the fleeing man. The video then shows him on the ground.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, a Democrat, told The Associated Press the video clearly shows Mr. Parra running away from the unmarked vehicle driven by an ICE officer. The agency has claimed Parra Hernandez ran in front of it.
“That vehicle jumped a median, drove into a parking lot and drove directly at and then over Mr. Parra,” Teare said.
Parra Hernandez underwent surgery for a broken leg later Saturday and also needs surgery on his ankle, his lawyer, Kim Bruno, said during a news conference Wednesday. He remains in ICE custody in the hospital, she said.
Teare said ICE already had two detainees in the SUV — a Jeep Cherokee — when it ran over Parra Hernandez, and his office will get statements from both of them before making a charging decision, likely next week.
His office spoke with Parra Hernandez on Tuesday in the hospital.
“What I’ve seen so far indicates to me that this agent intentionally struck this person and ran him over,” Teare said.
After Parra Hernandez was hit, the Harris County Sheriff's office and the Harris County District Attorney's office went to the scene with a tow truck to impound the ICE vehicle and download crash data, Teare said.
But the same ICE officer who drove the vehicle into Parra Hernandez had fled the scene in the SUV, thus keeping the vehicle in ICE's possession, Teare said. Driving a vehicle that has been involved in a collision writes over or erases the data recorded by the vehicle, he said.
“Any law enforcement officer knows those facts. ICE, either intentionally or through gross negligence, destroyed potential evidence in this case,” Teare said.
Teare said his office is evaluating several possible charges to bring against the ICE officer, including assault with a deadly weapon.
Allegations that officers intentionally struck Parra Hernandez are “reckless” and “false,” ICE said in a statement. Parra Hernandez had been in a vehicle with the target of an enforcement operation, and when officers tried to stop the car, the two men fled on foot, the agency said.
He “ran in front of an ICE vehicle and was struck,” ICE said.
Cesar Espinosa, executive director of FIEL Houston, an immigrant rights organization, flatly denied this claim during a news conference Wednesday, citing the surveillance video.
Attorneys and relatives of others who were arrested by ICE during the operation Saturday denied during the news conference that the man ICE named as the target of its operation — Jose Mendoza-Cervantes — was even in the white van, saying they didn’t know anyone of that name.
Espinosa said Parra Hernandez comes from Mexico and has been in the U.S. for 34 years. He declined to share Parra Hernandez’s status, but said he is living in the U.S. without authorization.
He said two ICE officers were in the room when he visited Parra Hernandez at the hospital.
Teare said ICE and the Department of Homeland Security have not cooperated with his office during its investigation.
In July, Teare said DHS also ignored his request for information after an ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. The shooting was one of at least 10 deaths involving encounters with immigration officers since the start of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
___ Wilder reported from Austin, Texas. ___
Wilder is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
