An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent has been indicted for allegedly mowing down an immigrant with his unmarked SUV in Texas.
Mario Alberto Morales, 33, turned himself in on Monday after a grand jury indicted him on aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charges on Friday.
Surveillance video allegedly caught Morales using his unmarked SUV to run over Miguel Parra Hernandez, who survived the attack, on October 10 in Houston.
Hernandez, a 48-year-old construction worker, was running away during a pursuit through a parking lot, according to the Harris County District Attorney's Office.
Parra Hernandez broke his leg and remains in federal custody at a rehabilitation facility, said District Attorney Sean Teare, who announced the indictment at a news conference that included body camera video of the encounter and a recording of Morales calling 911.
ICE has asserted that Parra Hernandez ran in front of the vehicle, an account that Teare said is contradicted by video.
'The evidence we have in this case is as clear as any that I've ever prosecuted or investigated,' Teare said.
However, Morales' attorneys are arguing that it was an 'accident' and a political smear campaign right before the midterm elections.
Mario Alberto Morales, 33, turned himself in on Monday for allegedly running over Miguel Parra Hernandez in Houston, Texas, on October 10
Video appeared to show an unmarked SUV chasing after a running man
'Officer Morales is an Army veteran. He was sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States,' his attorney, Michael Wynne, told the press.
Wynne said Teare's timing was deliberate, as it was the last day of early voting on Friday, and said the prosecutor decided the timing to 'make a certain news cycle.'
Morales's other attorney, David Lindenmuth, told ABC 13 that the incident was 'clearly just an accident' and that officials 'invented a crime out of thin air.'
He and ICE both said Morales did not intentionally strike Parra Hernandez.
'Mr. Morales is truly a good man, a former member of our military, that has given his entire life to public service either for his country or in or adjacent to law enforcement,' he told The Associated Press.
Teare denied making the case political. The prosecutor is also pushing to take the alleged crime to federal court.
'We'll press this case and litigate it the way the framers designed it, and that is in a federal forum,' he said, according to ABC 13.
Morales had worked as an ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officer for a little more than a year, Lindenmuth said.
Morales's attorneys are arguing that it was an 'accident' and a political smear campaign right before the midterm elections.
Parra Hernandez fractured in his leg. He also suffers from nerve damage and chronic pain, his lawyer said
He also ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the House of Representatives for Texas 34th District, according to Ballotpedia.
Parra Hernandez has lived in Harris County for more than 30 years and did not have a deportation order or criminal background, according to Teare.
He was in a vehicle that ICE tried to stop. He jumped out and was followed by Morales, who was in a Jeep Cherokee. Previously released surveillance video shows the Jeep speed over a median and drive toward Parra Hernandez as he ran away.
Morales' body camera footage that Teare played Friday showed the officer making a few sharp moves with the steering wheel before the SUV shakes.
Morales stopped the vehicle, then got out and turned toward Parra Hernandez, who was several feet away. Parra Hernandez was on the ground and grabbing his leg, yelling in pain.
Morales was heard saying: 'He got hit with a car, bro.' It is not clear to whom he is talking.
'I was coming in and I hit him with the car,' Morales said after another ICE officer arrived.
In a 911 audio recording in which Morales requested an ambulance, Parra Hernandez can be heard yelling. Morales told the operator: 'He's fine. He's just complaining of pain.'
Morales's other attorney, David Lindenmuth, told ABC 13 that the incident was 'clearly just an accident' and that officials 'invented a crime out of thin air'
District Attorney Sean Teare, however, said: 'The evidence we have in this case is as clear as any that I've ever prosecuted or investigated'
Parra Hernandez told deputies that he believed a police officer was stopping the vehicle he was in, but got scared and fled when the man started putting on a mask.
He repeatedly told deputies that Morales 'threw the car at me,' according to a Harris County Sheriff's Office incident report, reviewed by the AP.
Morales told deputies he did not intentionally hit Parra Hernandez. He acknowledged that he did not brake before hitting Parra Hernandez and said he was trying to avoid another truck in the parking lot.
Body camera video indicated that Morales had two other suspects in custody in his backseat, according to the report. But the deputy wrote that Morales told them there was no one else inside.
'From the beginning, the video told a different story than what was offered by the agency,' Parra Hernandez's attorney, Kim Bruno, said Friday, adding that her client has suffered not just fractures in his leg, but nerve damage and chronic pain.
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.
ICE said he was seen entering a vehicle with Parra Hernandez.
Family members of Parra Hernandez said they had never heard of him. FIEL, an immigrant rights group in Houston that has been working with the family, said Mendoza-Cervantes's daughter told them her father has been dead since 2017.
Parra Hernandez's sister holding a sign at a press conference on Wednesday. Parra Hernandez told deputies that he believed a police officer was stopping the vehicle he was in, but got scared and fled when the man started putting on a mask
ICE claimed another immigrant was the subject the operation and that he got into Parra Hernandez's vehicle. However, his family said they do not know the man. The other man's family also said he died in 2017
Teare's office has previously said its investigation has not found that Parra Hernandez and the man ICE identified as Mendoza-Cervantes were in a vehicle together, contrary to ICE's statement.
ICE has not responded to claims that the suspect they were looking for has been dead for years.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Morales and Parra Hernandez's lawyers and ICE for comment.
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