Officer: Driver 'smelled like a brewery' after hitting Dallas pedestrian, driving nearly 40 miles
FOX 4 StaffMon, December 18, 2023 at 2:40 PM CST·3 min read
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White Settlement police released more information about crash that killed a Dallas pedestrian over the weekend. Police arrested Nestor Joel Lujan Flores on Saturday night after he was found passed out in a White Settlement restaurant parking lot with a dead body inside of his car, nearly 40 miles from the crash site. White Settlement Police released more information and the original 911 call about the crash on Monday. White Settlement Police Chief Christopher Cook says the agency is working off the assumption that the 45-year-old victim was homeless.
The original crash happened in the area of I-30 and Cockrell Hill Road. Police say the victim was standing near the intersection where he was struck.
Dallas County Sheriff’s Office deputies later found human body parts in the area.
One 911 caller reported someone coming inside a White Settlement Jack in the Box restaurant, covered with blood, asking for a phone charger, according to an arrest affidavit.
Flores, who previously was arrested for DWI in 2020 by Plano police, was found slumped over the wheel in the parking lot. He told officers he had thought he had hit a deer.
"You are so impaired that you strike a pedestrian on a service road, and you don't even realize it is a human being? I cannot fathom the level of impairment," said Chief Cook during a news conference about a Tarrant County DWI crackdown for the holidays.
An arrest affidavit for Flores says that the victim was upside down with the head pointed toward the passenger floorboard, according to the arrest affidavit. Blood was also found on the hood, roof and rear of the vehicle.
Cook says tests for Flores' blood alcohol concentration are still being processed.
"I can tell you that once we placed him in the back seat of our car, the officer commented that it smelled like a brewery in the back seat of his patrol car," Cook said.
Flores also had glassy, red eyes and was staggering and slurring his speech, according to police documents.
Police say Flores lives in the city of Arlington and only stopped in White Settlement because his car would no longer run.
White Settlement police and the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office are working to eventually transfer Flores to Dallas County for an accident involving death.
"The fact that someone was hit and driven into the windshield and is still in the car when he’s found is just gonna make the state’s case that much easier," said Richard Alpert, former Tarrant County prosecutor not involved in the case.
Alpert prosecuted a somewhat similar case that gained national attention.
In 2001, a woman named Chante Mallard hit a homeless man in Fort Worth who became trapped in her windshield. She then drove home with the victim still alive, parked in her garage, where he would later die. She was convicted of murder. Police believe the victim in this case also may have been homeless.
"The fact that he is or isn’t homeless has nothing to do with the value of his life. It has nothing to do with the nature or gravity of this crime," Alpert said.
Alpert says the BAC results will play a big role if more charges are filed. "I’m not surprised by it. I’m not shocked by it," he said. "Unfortunately. the ability to stop drunk driving is still a struggle for law enforcement throughout this state."
Law enforcement agencies in Tarrant County held a press conference Monday about DWI enforcement. There will be extra patrols throughout the county for the holiday season.
"It does wear on officers. It is tragic. It is gruesome," said Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn. "And when you go home at the end of the day, as the DA said, it’s completely preventable. This was completely preventable."
The victim's name still hasn't been released. Police say they're working to contact family members.
Officer: Driver 'smelled like a brewery' after hitting Dallas pedestrian, driving nearly 40 miles
Nestor Joel Lujan Flores was found passed out in a White Settlement restaurant parking lot on Saturday night with a dead body inside of his car, nearly 40 miles from the Dallas crash site.
