Posted on 06/28/2011 11:12:28 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
HOUSTON – Charges are pending against a driver who struck and killed a pedestrian on a southeast Houston freeway early Tuesday, then fled the scene with the victim’s body still lodged in the car, according to Houston police.
HPD said a 32-year-old man pulled his Ford Explorer into the emergency lane on the left side of the Gulf Freeway southbound near Fuqua after it broke down around 12:30 a.m.
He was running back and forth across the lanes of the freeway when James John Onak, 49, struck him with his black Mazda 626.
The impact was so hard, the victim went through the windshield and came to rest in the front passenger seat, but that did not stop Onak.
Onak continued traveling with the body for a few miles until a Harris County Precinct 8 deputy constable pulled the car over on Beamer near Kirkvalley.
The deputy said he noticed the Mazda had extensive front-end damage and a deceased person in the seat.
Onak said he was aware he hit something, but was not aware a body was lying beside him, according to police.
Onak was then placed under arrest and a mandatory blood draw was issued.
He is now facing a felony charge of failure to stop and render aid and a misdemeanor charge of tampering with evidence.
All southbound lanes of the freeway were shut down several hours while authorities investigated.
The victim’s identity is pending verification by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.
I doubt that he would be in trouble if he immediately pulled over and dialed 911.
Having driven in Houston traffic a few times (and Dallas a lot) nothing really surprises me about this story.
Dunno... maybe the driver of a vehicle in distress?
Regards,
But can a person credibly be charged with failure to render aid if he has the guy's body draped over the dashboard? That'd be a question for the lawyers...
So...if you are a driver "in distress" on the free way, You run back and forth across the lanes through traffic?
Have you never heard of "road flares?"
“The deputy said he noticed the Mazda had extensive front-end damage and a deceased person in the seat.”
This deputy is brilliant!!!
He didn’t do anything to help the guy just in case he was still alive, just kept driving, so yes.
I understand in times of crisis it’s easy to not notice things, but a body in the passenger seat seems highly unlikely.
From 2003:
DELEON SPRINGS, Fla. — A motorist drove home about a mile with the legless body of a pedestrian in his front windshield before calling authorities to report that he hit the man with his car, officials said.
Joseph Markert, 57, was trying to cross U.S. 1 in DeLeon Springs when he was hit by a car driven by Daniel Dradeen, 19, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
http://www.wftv.com/news/2316984/detail.html
Again from 2003:
Mallard was charged with murder for plowing into Greg Glenn Biggs, 37, with her car Oct. 26 and leaving him to die from shock and blood loss over the course of two days.
According to a police report filed against her Mallard giggled several months later as she told friends, “I hit this white man.”
After parking in the garage, she had sex with her boyfriend, then returned with him to the garage to survey the situation.
“We intend to prosecute this fully,” said Tarrant County assistant district attorney Richard Alpert.
The police report says Mallard checked on Biggs several times as he was dying in her garage, but ignored his pleas for help. After the mentally ill, homeless man died, Mallard’s boyfriend and his brother dumped the body, according to police reports.
http://www.aintnowaytogo.com/hoodOrnament.htm
July 11, 2007, 9:20PM
Police: Motorist drove home with body in windshield
Associated Press
GREEN BAY, WIS. — A motorist hit two pedestrians, then drove home with one of the bodies lodged in his windshield, police said. The man in the windshield died.
Police said Steve Warrichaiet was drunk when he struck the pedestrians as he returned home from a friend’s house late Sunday. One pedestrian was found lying on a street, critically injured, and police said the second victim remained lodged in Warrichaiet’s windshield while he drove seven blocks home and parked in his garage.
Warrichaiet’s sister, Donna Gutowski, said he called her early Monday to tell her he had killed someone. She said she didn’t believe him.
Warrichaiet called police about 5:40 a.m. Monday, reporting that he thought he hit someone, authorities said. Tyrone Ware, 50, of Green Bay, was pronounced dead when police arrived at the home.
http://www.warriortalk.com/archive/index.php/t-25770.html
I guess it isn’t all that rare.
That was the conclusion on a CSI episode.
bttt
Window ornaments
Horrible way to go.
I took a deer through the W/S into the pass seat and floor(fortunately it died on the way in). Admittedly it was a small car, but the wind coming in through where the W/S used to be was a BIG clue that something had happened.
Run H!, Run!
He put a seat belt on the body.
That one you posted that happened in Green Bay really hit home. My company was just south of there about 30 miles and back about 10 years ago one of our customer service girls had about the same thing happen. Her and her husband were coming back from a typical Friday night in the Valley, both drunk hit a guy in the dead of winter and when the cops finally caught up with them they claimed they hit a deer. She ended up doing 5 years, she was driving. More drunks in Wisconsin on a Friday night than anywhere in the country.
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