(PatriotWise.com) — Texas law enforcement is investigating a deadly hit-and-run over the weekend in which the driver of the vehicle drove around with the victim’s body in the car, KLIF reported.
At about 11:13 p.m. on Saturday, December 16, White Settlement police received a report about a driver passed out behind the wheel of a Kia Forte parked at a Jack-in-the-Box on West Freeway.
The responding officer reported that the Kia had “extensive” damage to the front end, hood, and windshield. The officer also discovered a lifeless body in the passenger seat beside the passed-out driver.
Paramedics called to the scene confirmed that the person in the passenger seat was dead.
According to White Settlement Police Chief Chris Cook, the driver of the Kia, Arlington resident Nestor Lujan Flores, 31, told responding officers that he thought he hit a deer while driving in Dallas and continued to drive until reaching the Jack-in-the-Box.
Detectives said Flores struck the pedestrian so severely that the victim went through the windshield and landed on the passenger seat.
Based on evidence at the scene, detectives believed that Flores struck a pedestrian between Arlington and White Settlement and continued to drive another 40 miles with the dead pedestrian’s body in his vehicle.
According to Chief Cook, Dallas County Sheriff’s deputies located body parts on the roadway on I-30 near Cockrell Hill Road that were likely connected to the hit-and-run.
Flores, who was drunk, never alerted first responders after the incident. He faces a charge of manslaughter due to intoxication and failure to render aid.
The victim’s identity and cause of death were being withheld until notification of the next of kin.
Chief Cook told reporters on Sunday that in his 28 years in law enforcement, he had never “worked a case like this.”
He urged people to make “good decisions” like using ride-sharing services or contacting a friend rather than driving drunk.
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