ICE Agent's SUV Runs Down Fleeing Man as Officer Is Charged With Aggravated Assault

Houston, United States – A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer has been indicted for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after prosecutors released footage of his SUV running over a fleeing man in Houston, Texas.

Security and body camera footage released by the Harris County District Attorney's Office shows an unmarked SUV chasing a man on foot through a strip mall parking lot. Body camera video from inside the vehicle then shows the agent getting out and the man lying on the ground in pain.

"I was coming in and I hit him with the car," the officer can be heard telling another agent.

A Harris County grand jury indicted ICE officer Mario Alberto Morales, 33, on Friday, October 30, over the October 10 crash near Highway 6 and Clay Road, which left Miguel Parra-Hernandez, 48, with a broken leg.

District Attorney Sean Teare said the footage showed the agent swerve toward Parra-Hernandez. If convicted, Morales faces between two and 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors also released a 911 call in which the officer told a dispatcher: "I tried to get around him, and he hit my car."

The Department of Homeland Security has said Parra-Hernandez "ran in front of the vehicle" and that claims he was struck intentionally are "reckless and false." Morales is believed to be the first federal agent charged in Texas over the recent ramped-up immigration enforcement.