Indicted ICE Officer Expected to Surrender Monday in Houston Vehicle Case
ICE officer Mario Alberto Morales is expected to surrender Monday morning after a Houston grand jury indicted him on an aggravated assault charge over an Oct. 10 pursuit in which a man was run over and seriously hurt.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer indicted in Houston after he struck a man with his vehicle during a pursuit is expected to surrender on Monday morning, his attorney, David Lindenmuth, told ABC News. Mario Alberto Morales, 33, was indicted by a Harris County grand jury on Friday on a charge of second-degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
The charge follows an incident on the morning of Oct. 10, when Morales, driving an unmarked SUV, struck Miguel Parra Hernandez, 48, as Parra Hernandez ran away on foot during a pursuit through a parking lot, the district attorney’s office said. Prosecutors say the SUV ran over both of Parra Hernandez’s legs. He suffered fractures and nerve damage, underwent surgery, and remains in federal custody at a rehabilitation facility, according to his attorney, Kim Bruno.
Video accounts differ on intent
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said at a news conference Friday that video contradicts the account given by ICE. Surveillance video shows a Jeep Cherokee speed over a median and drive toward Parra Hernandez as he runs away, and body camera footage played by Teare shows Morales making sharp moves with the steering wheel before the SUV shakes and stops. In the footage, Morales is heard saying, “I was coming in and I hit him with the car.” Teare said, “The evidence we have in this case is as clear as any that I’ve ever prosecuted or investigated.”
ICE has rejected the claim that Morales acted on purpose. The agency said Parra Hernandez ran in front of the vehicle and called the allegation of intent “reckless and false.” Lindenmuth said his client did not intend to hit Parra Hernandez and was trying to avoid striking another vehicle while two detainees sat in the back seat. “It was an accident. It was nothing more than accident, but the DA to score political points right before elections decided to bring charges,” Lindenmuth said. He also said Morales served in the Army as a paratrooper and is a Christian pastor who does missionary work overseas.
Other parts of the case remain disputed. Teare said Parra Hernandez has lived in Harris County for more than 30 years and had no criminal record and no deportation order. 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. Family members of Parra Hernandez said they had never heard of him, and FIEL, an immigrant rights group in Houston working with the family, said Mendoza-Cervantes’s daughter told them her father has been dead since 2017. Teare’s office has said its investigation has not found that Parra Hernandez and the man ICE identified were in a vehicle together, contrary to ICE’s statement. ICE has not responded to the claim about Mendoza-Cervantes.
Teare has also said the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has not cooperated with his investigators, and he accused ICE of destroying evidence either on purpose or through gross negligence. He said Morales left the scene before the vehicle could be impounded. Morales, who faces two to 20 years in prison if convicted of the second-degree felony, was not in custody Friday, and a warrant was to be issued for his arrest, according to Teare. An indictment is a charge, not a finding of guilt, and the case will now move toward trial.
Reporting based on coverage by CNN and ABC News.
