HOUSTON: Federal immigration agents in an unmarked SUV ran over a Mexican man during a pursuit in Texas, breaking his right leg in three places, his lawyer said Monday.
On Saturday, 48-year-old construction worker Miguel Parra was on his way to work when he was struck during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in Houston, Texas.
Surveillance video captured the moment when the dark SUV caught up with Parra, who was fleeing his vehicle on foot, and ran over him.
ICE officals told Houston Public Media that Parra "ran in front of an ICE vehicle and was struck."
Parra's lawyer Kim Bruno challenged that characterisation, telling reporters: "What happened is not an accident, it is something (done) intentionally and that is abuse."
ICE said they we seeking to detain Parra's passenger, who had a criminal record.
The incident marks the latest injuries sustained in the harsh national crackdown on immigration in the United States.
Cesar Espinosa, director of immigrant rights group FIEL Houston, said Parra has undergone surgery for his leg.
"He has an injury on his hip, a little below his knee and his ankle is fractured," Espinosa said. "He still has multiple surgeries to go" to "reconstruct his leg."
Harris County District attorney Sean Teare previously led the vehicular crimes division, and said his office will investigate the Saturday wreck as a potential crime of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
"Multiple investigators who have decades of experience investigating auto-pedestrian crashes have all watched the surveillance, seen the scene and believe it is not an accidental strike," Teare told the Houston Chronicle.
The incident comes two days after Dominican national Oscar Belgal, 28, was shot and wounded by an ICE agent in New York while he was in a car with a five-year-old child. Authorities said he has a criminal record.
Last month, Venezuelan national Wilber Garces was shot in the back by an ICE agent while he was working as a delivery driver in Austin, Texas. The Department of Homeland Security accuses him of trying to run an agent over with his car.
In July, another ICE agent shot and killed Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado. Eyewitness accounts there dispute the official's accusation that he was attempting to run over an officer.
US president Donald Trump campaigned on tough immigration policies, but violent enforcement actions have drawn protests and criticism from all over the country.