The Prosecutor Watched the Video; ICE Denies What It Shows

There is a particular kind of gravity that attaches to a moment captured on camera—a frozen sequence of motion that, once seen, cannot be unseen. In Houston this week, such footage has become the center of a legal and moral question: what happens when a vehicle, meant to pursue, becomes the instrument of harm itself?

Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said Tuesday that surveillance video appears to show a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer intentionally driving into a man during an enforcement operation, breaking his leg . The man, 48-year-old Miguel Parra Hernandez, was on his way to work when the encounter began, according to an immigrant rights organization assisting his family .

The footage, described by Teare, shows Parra Hernandez and another person jumping from a white truck and running as a dark SUV pursues them. The vehicle strikes Parra Hernandez, who is seen on the ground seconds later . “In a case like this, the most obvious criminal charge is aggravated assault with a deadly weapon,” Teare told reporters. “Meaning the car was used as a deadly weapon” .

ICE has disputed that account. A spokesperson said Parra Hernandez “ran in front of an ICE vehicle and was struck” as officers attempted to apprehend him, calling the allegations of intentional striking “reckless” and “false” . The agency said Parra Hernandez was in a vehicle with the target of an enforcement operation .

The prosecutor’s office has opened an independent investigation, but Teare said ICE and the Department of Homeland Security have not cooperated . He also said the vehicle involved may have contained a data recorder with information about speed, steering, and braking at the moment of impact—but that ICE drove the vehicle away before investigators could preserve it . “In my 20-year career, I’ve never heard of anything like that,” Teare said .

Parra Hernandez, who has lived in the United States for 34 years, underwent surgery for the injury under his knee and faces a reconstructive operation on his ankle once swelling subsides, according to Cesar Espinosa of FIEL Houston . He remains in ICE custody .

The case unfolds against a backdrop of heightened scrutiny over federal immigration enforcement in Houston. Teare’s office is also investigating a July fatal shooting by an ICE officer, one of at least ten deaths involving immigration officers since the start of the administration’s mass deportation campaign . In that case, DHS also did not respond to requests for information, Teare said .

No charges have been filed. The investigation continues, and the footage remains—a record of a moment whose meaning is still being contested.

The images in this article are AI-generated and used for illustrative purposes only.

Sources: AP News, NBC News, The Independent, The Canadian Press, KFOX