Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said Tuesday that his office has opened a criminal investigation into the October 10 collision in which a vehicle driven by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer struck Miguel Parra-Hernandez, 48, and that the vehicle was driven away from the scene before investigators could download data from it.
No one has been charged. There has been no arrest and no grand jury action reported in this case. Teare said a charging decision is expected in what he called relatively short order. ICE has called the central allegation false.
What the District Attorney Says
Teare told reporters his office believes the collision was deliberate. He said surveillance video shows Parra-Hernandez running in a straight line while the ICE vehicle swerved into his path, and said the incident was not an accident in any way, shape or form. KPRC reports that prosecutors are weighing a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. ABC13 reports Teare’s office has identified the officer who was driving, and neither outlet names that person.
On the vehicle, Teare said investigators wanted to tow it and that the officers on scene did not consent to a data download. He said that while investigators were drafting a search warrant, an officer drove the vehicle away, and that ICE removed it over the objections of his office and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. Teare said crash data recorders can be overwritten when a vehicle is driven again, and that the data is likely gone. His office is running the investigation with the sheriff’s office rather than with ICE, and has opened a public portal asking for additional video or evidence.
What ICE Says
ICE has said its officers were looking for Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, who the agency says had a final order of removal, during an operation at about 7:30 a.m. on Saturday. An ICE spokesperson said Parra-Hernandez ran in front of an ICE vehicle and was struck. The agency said late Tuesday that allegations the collision was intentional are reckless and false. ICE has said Mendoza-Cervantes fled on foot and was still being sought as of Tuesday.
The accounts conflict on more than intent. ICE has said Parra-Hernandez was in the same vehicle as the man officers were looking for. His attorney, Kim Bruno, says her client does not know Mendoza-Cervantes and was not with him that morning. Authorities have not identified or located the second man seen in the surveillance video.
Where It Happened and What Is Known About the Injuries
The collision happened Saturday, October 10 at about 7:30 a.m. in a parking lot near Highway 6 North and Clay Road in west Harris County, roughly 30 miles west of the Lake Houston area. Parra-Hernandez was hospitalized and has undergone multiple surgeries for leg injuries. Accounts of the specific injuries differ between outlets, so this post does not give a count. He remains in ICE custody along with two other people who were detained, and Teare said his office intends to sponsor U-visa petitions for them.
Why This Is Local News
Kingwood sits inside Harris County, and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office are the county law enforcement agencies that serve this area. A charging decision in this case would be made by the same office that handles felony prosecutions out of the Lake Houston area.
This site reported the sheriff’s office investigation on Monday in The Harris County Sheriff’s Office Is Investigating After an ICE Vehicle Struck a Man During a Houston Enforcement Operation. The district attorney’s investigation reported here is a separate matter, and it is the one that can lead to charges.
