The Harris County District Attorney is accusing federal immigration officers of intentionally striking a man with a vehicle during an enforcement operation in Houston last Saturday and then potentially destroying critical evidence from the scene.
District Attorney Sean Teare said Tuesday that surveillance footage gathered by local investigators clearly shows an ICE vehicle deliberately swerving toward 48-year-old Miguel Parra Hernandez as he fled on foot. Teare said the incident meets the legal threshold for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon under Texas law.
“My viewing of it and many other investigators that have viewed it as well — it’s pretty obvious that this was an intentional striking and running over of the person by the vehicle” Teare told NBC News.
Parra suffered multiple broken bones and fractures throughout his body. Advocates say he has already undergone surgery on one leg and faces several additional operations.
Teare also raised serious concerns about evidence tampering. He said local investigators identified the ICE vehicle as a Jeep Cherokee and believed its onboard data recorder captured speed, braking and steering information at the moment of impact. Before a search warrant could be completed ICE drove the vehicle away from the scene erasing any recoverable data.
Teare called the move unprecedented in his 20-year career in law enforcement. He said federal authorities have refused to cooperate with the joint investigation being conducted by his office and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
Adding to the controversy Teare noted that two individuals from a separate unrelated operation were already seated in the back of the ICE vehicle when officers began pursuing Parra. He said no law enforcement agency in the country trains officers to chase additional suspects while transporting people already in custody.
ICE pushed back sharply on Tuesday calling the allegations reckless and false. A spokesperson said the agency’s officers are held to the highest standards of professionalism and integrity. ICE maintains that Parra ran in front of their vehicle and was not an intended target of the operation.
Parra’s attorney and family say he has no criminal record and was heading to a job site to apply stucco when the encounter occurred. They say the vehicles involved were unmarked had tinted windows and did not activate lights or sirens before he ran.
The incident occurred less than two weeks after the Trump administration issued new guidance requiring ICE vehicles used in traffic stops to be equipped with lights and sirens and mandating that all officers activate body cameras.
Teare is asking anyone with cellphone video or witness information to submit it through a secure portal on the Harris County District Attorney’s website where no one will be asked about citizenship or immigration status.