A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer struck a man with an SUV in a west Houston parking lot Saturday morning, leaving the man with a broken leg after he fled from a vehicle immigration agents were trying to stop.
The crash was captured on video by at least one business’ security camera. The business owner, who provided the video to the Houston Chronicle, asked not to be identified for fear of retribution from authorities.
He said the video had also been shared with the sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s office, which is investigating the crash, did not confirm.
In a statement released Saturday evening, attributed to an unnamed spokesperson, ICE claimed the injured man, Miguel Parra-Hernandez, “ran in front of the vehicle and was struck.”
The moment the unmarked Jeep Cherokee hit Parra-Hernandez is obscured in the video. It shows that the ICE agent driving the SUV — who has not been identified — turned in Parra-Hernandez’s direction before the collision.
Parra-Hernandez was being treated at a Katy-area hospital and was in ICE custody, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. His leg was broken in three places and required surgery, according to FIEL, the immigrant rights group.
In its statement, the ICE spokesperson said Parra-Hernandez is in the U.S. without permission. The spokesman said that agents had been trying to arrest another man in the vehicle, Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, who had a history of arrests, convictions and deportations, and had an active final deportation order.
Mendoza-Cervantes fled on foot after the crash and was not immediately arrested, officials said.
What the video shows
The six-minute video begins at 7:28 a.m. The camera points north toward Clay Road and shows a two-lane road within the strip center, a post office box and a pair of dumpsters. At the beginning of the video, a dark blue Dodge Ram pickup truck is seen driving slowly toward Clay Road and then stopping near the dumpsters.
Beyond it, a white pickup truck, which police said Mendoza-Cervantes was driving, is seen driving about 200 feet in the wrong lane of traffic on Clay Road before stopping at the curb.
About eight seconds after the white pickup stops, Mendoza-Cervantes and Parra-Hernandez emerge and run south toward the camera. Mendoza-Cervantes runs toward a gas station and disappears from view.
Parra-Hernandez takes a different route and runs in the direction of the dumpster and the Ram. Behind him, the Jeep Cherokee turns left off Clay Road, jumps the curb in the median and enters the parking lot.
The Cherokee comes up on Parra-Hernandez’s right, moves past him and stops. The Ram obscures the view of a collision, but a moment later it moves out of the way and Parra-Hernandez can be seen lying on the ground.
The Cherokee didn’t appear to have any visible flashing emergency lights as it entered the parking lot.
Moments after Parra-Hernandez was hit, another SUV, this one with its emergency lights activated, rolls up to the scene. Two other vehicles show up less than a minute later. At least five people appear to check on Parra-Hernandez as he was on the ground.
ICE agents can be seen moving the white pickup truck out of the traffic lane.
The two latest-arriving vehicles drive away from the scene before the video ends, and it doesn’t show an ambulance or sheriff’s office investigators arriving.
The sheriff’s office announced its investigation into the crash in a post on X at about 9:15 a.m. The agent behind the wheel of the Cherokee stayed at the scene and spoke to deputies, officials said.
Local officials react with condemnation
The crash drew immediate criticism from local elected officials, who called for transparency surrounding the federal operation. Investigators from both the sheriff’s office and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office were at the scene through Saturday afternoon.
Sheriff’s office officials called the investigation typical of what happens after a crash involving law enforcement and a pedestrian. The agency was notified after the ICE agents called 911 to request an ambulance for Parra-Hernandez, officials said. No charges have been announced.
The crash comes in the wake of the fatal July shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during an ICE pursuit involving unmarked vehicles in Houston’s East End.
The fallout from the Salgado shooting contributed to some policy changes by ICE, including a renewed promise to equip agents with body cameras and new rules governing high-speed pursuits. But local officials who commented on Saturday’s crash said they distrusted the agency.
U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia said in a social media post that she had been in contact with the sheriff’s office and was continuing to monitor the situation.
“We need to know exactly what happened, and ICE’s word alone is not enough,” Garcia wrote.
Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones also condemned the incident in a statement Saturday, calling for federal authorities to cooperate with the investigation and release any video evidence.
“I am horrified to learn that an ICE vehicle struck a man on Clay Road this morning in Precinct 4,” Briones said. “While we wait to learn more, my prayers are with his family.”
Briones also criticized the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, saying ICE has brought “chaos and destruction” to communities across the country.
“ICE must cooperate fully with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and release all video evidence of this incident,” she said. “We demand full transparency, accountability, and respect for the rule of law.”
Cesar Espinosa, the executive director of FIEL, called on ICE to identify the agents involved in the operation.
“We must hold all parties accountable and demand a thorough, transparent investigation,” Espinosa said. “We have more questions than answers. The biggest question we have is why does this keep happening?”
