Man injured after being struck by ICE vehicle while fleeing on foot during enforcement operation, officials say

By Emma Tucker, Sarah Dewberry, CNN

(CNN) — A man officials described as an undocumented immigrant from Mexico was injured Saturday after being struck by a vehicle driven by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents while fleeing on foot during an enforcement operation near Houston.

An ICE spokesperson said Miguel Parra-Hernandez, the man who was struck, “ran in front of an ICE vehicle” after he and another undocumented immigrant identified as Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, the target of the operation, exited the vehicle they were in and began to flee on foot while federal agents attempted to conduct a vehicle stop.

Surveillance footage of the incident appears to show the two men jumping out of a white pickup truck and running away as a black vehicle that appeared to be unmarked, purportedly operated by ICE agents, accelerated before hitting Parra-Hernandez as he fled on foot. The angle of the surveillance video does not clearly show the moment of impact.

ICE said it “immediately contacted EMS and provided aid” to Parra-Hernandez, who sustained non-life-threatening injuries and remains in stable condition.

He was transported to a hospital where he was being treated for lower-body injuries, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said, adding that he is in ICE custody.

Parra-Hernandez has two broken legs and is scheduled to undergo surgery on Sunday, his lawyer Kim Bruno told CNN.

Mendoza-Cervantes, the other man, remains unaccounted for, the office said. He was described by ICE to CNN as a “public safety threat” with several prior arrests for driving under the influence and unlawful possession of a firearm.

The incident comes just days after the first ICE-involved shooting in New York City since President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, in which federal immigration agents shot and wounded a driver in the Bronx while his 5-year-old child was in the back seat. ICE said the agents believed their lives were in danger after the man refused lawful orders to exit the vehicle.

It also comes amid heightened scrutiny over vehicle stops in immigration enforcement operations, after two immigrants, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston and Joan Sebastian Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, were fatally shot in July by ICE officers in separate incidents about a week apart.

As CNN reported earlier this month, ICE officers will be allowed to conduct vehicle stops only if they have completed related training courses and must ensure that vehicles used for stops are equipped with lights and sirens, according to new internal guidance reviewed by CNN.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation into the circumstances of Saturday’s incident, aided by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. CNN has reached out to the sheriff’s office and the district attorney for further comment.

Maj. Anthony McConnell, who leads the sheriff’s office’s special investigations bureau, said at a news conference one of the ICE agents was trying to box in the passenger, Parra-Hernandez, when he was struck.

Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to the scene after the incident, McConnell said.

Authorities are attempting to get more surveillance footage from the scene, he added.

CNN has reached out to ICE for comment on the surveillance footage.

Witness accounts and video footage from similar incidents involving federal agents have at times contradicted the Department of Homeland Security’s account of what transpired, such as the fatal shooting of US citizen Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this year. The department initially said Good tried to weaponize her vehicle against the officer, but video and witness accounts called into question the agency’s version of events. Good’s family filed two civil lawsuits related to her death earlier this month.

ICE is asking the public for any information leading to the arrest of Mendoza-Cervantes, the man still unaccounted for from Saturday’s incident, after what it described as his “dangerous attempt to evade arrest.”

Mendoza-Cervantes has a final order of removal from a judge. He was previously deported twice and illegally entered the US five times, the agency told CNN.

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CNN’s Amanda Watts contributed to this report.