In a horrifying incident, a Texas man has been arrested after allegedly hitting a pedestrian and driving for 38 miles with the victim’s dead body still in the passenger seat. The White Settlement Police Department received a welfare check call on Saturday night, leading them to a gray Kia Forte with front-end and windshield damage parked in a Jack in the Box parking lot. Upon inspection, officers discovered a dead human being in the front passenger seat.
The driver, later identified as 31-year-old Nestor Joel Lujan Flores, was immediately detained. Emergency crews confirmed the passenger’s death upon arrival. Flores claimed that he believed he had hit an animal in Dallas and continued driving until he reached the parking lot. However, he failed to report the incident to the police or emergency responders.
Authorities initiated an alert to other police agencies in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to check if any hit-and-run or pedestrian crash reports had been filed, but none were found. Subsequently, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office notified the White Settlement Police Department of a crash on the westbound service road of Highway 30, where human remains were discovered near the roadway. These remains are suspected to match the victim’s body found in Flores’s vehicle.
The Dallas County and Tarrant County medical examiner’s offices will collaborate to identify the victim. As the crash is believed to have occurred in Dallas County, the case has been transferred to the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office. The investigation indicates that Flores drove for 38 miles from the crash scene before stopping at the restaurant parking lot.
Flores’s vehicle has been impounded for further investigation, and a blood search warrant has been obtained. He is currently in custody on a pending charge of intoxicated manslaughter. Police records reveal that Flores has a previous arrest for driving while intoxicated in 2020 and a conviction for the same charge in 2021.
This shocking incident highlights the need for better road safety and responsible behavior on the part of drivers. The investigation will continue to uncover more details about the circumstances surrounding the pedestrian’s death and whether Flores’s actions were intentional or accidental.
