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HOUSTON (AP) — A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer appeared to intentionally drive a vehicle into a man in Houston, breaking his leg, a Texas prosecutor said, warning an investigation by his office could result in criminal charges.
Miguel Parra Hernandez, 48, underwent surgery for a broken leg after he was hit by a car Saturday, said Cesar Espinosa, executive director of FIEL Houston, an immigrant rights organization that is helping the man’s family.
Parra Hernandez remains in ICE custody at a hospital and still needs ankle surgery, his lawyer, Kim Bruno, said during a news conference Wednesday.
The encounter has set off new criticism over immigration enforcement in Houston, where local prosecutors are also investigating a July fatal shooting by a federal immigration officer.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, a Democrat, expressed concern Tuesday over surveillance footage that shows Parra Hernandez and another person jumping out of a white truck and running as a dark SUV pursues them. A vehicle strikes Parra Hernandez, who is seen on the ground seconds later.
“The most obvious criminal charge is aggravated assault with a deadly weapon,” Teare told FOX 26 Houston. “Meaning the car was used as a deadly weapon. And it certainly is what appears to have happened, based on the surveillance footage.”
ICE denies intentionally striking Parra Hernandez
Allegations that officers intentionally struck Parra Hernandez are “reckless” and “false,” ICE said in a statement. Parra Hernandez had been in a vehicle with the target of an enforcement operation, and when officers tried to stop the car, the two men fled on foot, the agency said.
He “ran in front of an ICE vehicle and was struck,” ICE said.
Espinosa flatly denied this claim during the news conference Wednesday, citing surveillance video.
The footage shows a man running from the white truck as a black SUV approaches him from behind. The video does not show the car hitting the man — that view is blocked by another vehicle — but it shows the SUV inches from the man before stopping. After, the man is on the ground behind the car.
Attorneys and relatives of others who were arrested by ICE during the operation Saturday denied during the news conference that the man ICE named as the target of its operation — Jose Mendoza-Cervantes — was even in the white van, saying they didn’t know anyone of that name.
Espinosa said Parra Hernandez comes from Mexico and has been in the U.S. for 34 years. He declined to share Parra Hernandez’s status, but said he is living in the U.S. without authorization.
He said two ICE officers were in the room when he visited Parra Hernandez at the hospital.
“He already had a surgery for the injury under his knee and now we’re waiting for swelling to go down in his ankle to be able to have a reconstructive surgery on his ankle,” Espinosa said.
He remained in ICE custody Wednesday, Espinosa said.
Prosecutors are still investigating a fatal ICE shooting in July
Teare said ICE and the Department of Homeland Security have not cooperated with his office during its investigation.
In July, Teare said DHS also ignored his request for information after an ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. The shooting was one of at least 10 deaths involving encounters with immigration officers since the start of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
___ Wilder reported from Austin, Texas. ___
Wilder is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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