HOUSTON – A Harris County grand jury has returned an indictment against the ICE officer who ran over a man in northwest Harris County earlier this month, causing injuries that required hospitalization.
It’s unclear yet what charge the federal agent, who has been identified Mario Morales, is now facing.
The crash happened in a parking lot near Clay Road and Highway 6 on Oct. 10. Miguel Parra Hernandez was struck after running from a truck that ICE officers had been pursuing during what federal officials described as an enforcement operation targeting a different man they believed to be in the vehicle.
Just before 8 a.m. Friday, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare and the head of his civil rights division, Je’Rell Rogers, entered the grand jury room to present the case. By 8:40 a.m., Teare and top staffers left the room.
Teare previously told KPRC 2 the case was being investigated as an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, pointing to surveillance video that he described as showing an “intentional” strike.
DHS has previously said that Parra Hernandez was struck after running in front of the vehicle, and any claims that it happened intentionally are “reckless and false.”
According to a search warrant affidavit, the ICE officers left the scene of the crash with the vehicle involved before the investigation was over. Teare previously said they didn’t consent to having the vehicle towed to obtain forensic evidence, and they left while investigators were working to obtain a search warrant.
A judge signed off on a search warrant from DA investigators for the vehicle on Oct. 15. The return notes it got sent to the Department of Homeland Security’s legal division, and as of Oct. 23, DHS and ICE had been “unresponsive” to the search warrant, not providing access to the vehicle.
Teare said driving the vehicle away from the scene likely cleared any of the crash data recordings and jeopardized obtaining relevant information to the investigation.
Days after the crash, The New York Times reported the man ICE claimed to be targeting had died nearly a decade ago, according to his sister who spoke with the newspaper and provided documentation.
ICE released the following statement:
“This is nothing more than a political stunt by Houston sanctuary politicians. Federal officers acting in the course of their duties can only be investigated by other Federal agencies. Local governments do not have the authority to run such an investigation.
“Allegations that ICE struck Miguel Parra-Hernandez intentionally are RECKLESS and FALSE. The men and women of ICE are entrusted with upholding the rule of law and are held to the highest standards of professionalism, integrity, and ethical conduct. As our brave law enforcement officers arrest and remove dangerous criminal illegal aliens from our communities, America can be proud of the professionalism our officers bring the job day-in and day-out.”
Morales’ defense counsel also released the following statement:
“Mario Morales is a U.S. Army veteran, a federal law enforcement officer, and an ordained police chaplain who has dedicated his entire adult life to public service. The investigation into Mr. Morales’s actions has been improperly centered in the local state prosecutor’s office,” said attorney Michael Wynne. “To our knowledge, no federal law enforcement officer acting under color of federal law has been prosecuted by a local district attorney in Harris County in recent memory. The Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution raises serious questions about the state’s authority to pursue this prosecution,” Wynne continued.
“This is political theater. Sean Teare was handed $2.5 million by Harris County Commissioners Court to go after ICE for political reasons, while taxpayers are being told the County is broke. This is Democrats warring with Republicans at the expense of a good man,” said Wynne.
Mr. Morales enlisted in the United States Army, where he served as a Military Police officer and airborne paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. During his military service, his unit was placed on alert for potential deployment to Africa during the 2014 Ebola outbreak and for operations in Kuwait. He received an honorable discharge and holds a 100% permanent service-connected disability rating resulting from injuries sustained during his military service.
“Following his military service, Mr. Morales continued serving his community through a career incorrections and law enforcement, including service as a Corrections Officer with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and as a detention and transportation officer at the Port Isabel Detention Center in South Texas. In 2025, he was hired as a Deportation Officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations, in Houston. Throughout more than a decade of public service, Mr. Morales has completed federal law enforcement academy training, FEMA incident-command coursework, and first aid and CPR certification,” said Wynne. “Mr. Morales knows his business, and no crime has been committed,”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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