Accused Hit-And-Run Driver Drove With Victim's Body For 40 Miles Before Stopping

2023-12-24

A Texas man accused of a hit-and-run apparently hit the victim so hard that the body flew up into the air and into the car’s passenger seat.

Even stranger: The driver didn’t notice the body next to him in the car and drove another 40 miles before passing out in a Jack In The Box restaurant in White Settlement, Texas, Saturday night.

Officers were called to the restaurant for a welfare check for a man who appeared to be slumped over the steering wheel of a gray Kia Forte 4-door passenger car, according to a department release.

The responding deputy noted the car had extensive front end, hood and windshield damage.

The officer also noticed something else: “A human body with no signs of life in the front passenger seat,” the release noted.

The driver, later identified as 31-year-old Nestor Lujan Flores of Arlington, was immediately asked to step out of the vehicle and detained for further investigation.

Investigators think the impact of the accident was so intense that the pedestrian was thrown inside the vehicle and landed in the passenger seat.

Lujan Flores told police he thought he had struck a deer in Dallas and just continued driving to the Jack In The Box, according to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth.

Lujan Flores apparently never reported the collision to police, White Settlement Police Chief Christopher Cook told the station.

“It’s very unfortunate that he did not realize that this was a human being to stop and render aid, and call for help,” Cook said. “When you’re impaired to this level where you hit a pedestrian on the roadway, and you think it’s an animal, that’s a significant impairment.”

Lujan Flores is in custody at the White Settlement Jail on a pending charge of intoxication manslaughter, according to KWTX TV, which noted that he had two previous arrests for DWI, including a conviction in 2021.

The victim hasn’t been identified, but the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office notified White Settlement Police on Sunday of a crash Saturday night on I-30 where human remains were found.

Authorities will test them to see if they match the remains of the body found in the car. Once identified, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office will release the name publicly after the victim’s loved ones have been notified.

You can see Cook’s press conference below.

• 2023-12-24
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