Indicted ICE Officer Mario Morales Is Expected to Surrender Monday in the Harris County Assault Case
The Houston case that began with an Oct. 10 pursuit near Clay Road and Highway 6 reaches its next step on Monday: ICE officer Mario Alberto Morales, indicted on a second-degree aggravated-assault charge, is expected to surrender Monday morning, his attorney told ABC News. His lawyer calls the collision an accident; the district attorney says the body camera shows the officer steering into the man.
HOUSTON - An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer indicted in Harris County is expected to surrender on Monday morning, his attorney told ABC News - the next step in a case that has put a federal immigration operation and the county's prosecutors on opposite sides of the same body-camera video.
Mario Alberto Morales was indicted by a Harris County grand jury on a charge of second-degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to the Harris County District Attorney's Office. The charge stems from Oct. 10, when Morales, driving a 2025 Jeep Grand Cherokee near Clay Road and Highway 6, pursued a Chevrolet Silverado driven by Miguel Parra Hernandez; when Parra Hernandez and another occupant fled on foot, Morales' vehicle struck Parra Hernandez, fracturing his right leg in multiple places, prosecutors said at their Oct. 30 news conference. A grand jury in the 174th District Court returned the indictment, a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison upon conviction.
The two sides describe the same seconds differently, and both descriptions are on the record. District Attorney Sean Teare alleged at a Friday press briefing that Morales' body-camera footage shows the officer 'aggressively steered his vehicle' into Parra Hernandez, and Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said two handcuffed detainees were inside Morales' vehicle during the chase. Morales' attorney, David Lindenmuth, told ABC News his client did not intend to strike Parra Hernandez and that the collision was an accident. U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz criticized the indictment when it was announced on Oct. 30.
Parra Hernandez remains in federal custody at a rehabilitation facility, according to the reporting read this run. Gonzalez has emphasized that the indictment does not determine guilt, and Morales is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. The surrender expected Monday is a booking step, not a verdict - the case now moves into the court process both sides have been arguing about since Friday.
