Key takeaways:
- Parra Hernandez suffered hip and leg injuries, including a shattered ankle, and cannot put weight on his leg for six weeks, his advocate said.
- ICE says Parra Hernandez was not the target of the attempted vehicle stop; his representatives say he did not know the person ICE was seeking.
- The Harris County Sheriff’s Office is leading an investigation with help from the district attorney’s office.
A Houston man struck by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicle during a Saturday pursuit has undergone leg surgery and faces more operations, his representatives said Monday. Miguel Parra Hernandez, 48, suffered injuries to his hip and leg, including a shattered ankle, after getting out of a pickup truck and running from officers.
ICE said its officers attempted a vehicle stop and the people inside fled. As officers tried to apprehend them, “Miguel Parra Hernandez ran in front of an ICE vehicle and was struck,” the agency said. ICE said Parra Hernandez was not the target of the stop.
Cesar Espinosa, executive director of the immigrant advocacy group FIEL Houston, disputed the agency’s account of how the collision occurred, saying Parra Hernandez was hit “in a violent and brutal fashion.” Espinosa said Parra Hernandez told him he ran because he did not realize the people pursuing him were officers. The vehicles were unmarked, had dark tinted windows and were not using sirens, Espinosa said. Parra Hernandez’s attorney, Kim Bruno, said the ICE vehicle had no flashing lights.
Footage aired by Houston television stations shows parts of the pursuit. NBC affiliate KPRC reported that its video shows an unmarked vehicle crossing a median and appearing to swerve toward Parra Hernandez’s path before he is seen on the pavement behind it. ABC affiliate KTRK aired footage that, according to The Guardian, shows a dark, unmarked SUV following him and veering toward him in a shopping center parking lot.
Espinosa said Parra Hernandez cannot put weight on his leg for six weeks. He has had surgery but must wait for swelling to subside before doctors can perform further reconstructive procedures, Espinosa said.
Parra Hernandez remained in ICE custody at a Houston-area hospital Monday, Bruno and Espinosa said. They said they visited him that morning but were made to leave after about 15 minutes when ICE officers entered and began recording their conversation. “To add insult to injury, Mr. Miguel is in the custody of the ICE agents who ran him down,” Espinosa said.
ICE identified the person it was seeking as Jose Mendoza Cervantes. The agency said he had an active removal order, had been removed from the United States twice and had entered the country illegally five times. It also said he had been arrested multiple times for drunken driving and once for unlawful possession of a firearm. Bruno and Espinosa said neither Parra Hernandez nor the man he had picked up for work knew Mendoza Cervantes, and neither was the target of the stop.
Bruno said Parra Hernandez has lived in the United States for 34 years, since arriving at age 14, and has no criminal record or previous encounters with immigration authorities. The Department of Homeland Security said he is in the country without legal permission.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office is leading an investigation with assistance from the district attorney’s office, which sent civil rights investigators to the intersection where Parra Hernandez was struck. The collision came less than two weeks after the Trump administration issued tighter ICE vehicle-stop guidance. The guidance requires vehicles used for traffic stops to have lights and sirens, trained officers to conduct the stops, and officers at the scene to wear and activate body cameras. The Guardian reported that the rules do not require officers to use the lights and sirens.
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