Motorist found with dead pedestrian in vehicle after crash, police say

WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas — A Texas man was detained Saturday night after police said he fatally struck a pedestrian and then drove to a restaurant parking lot with the dead body in the passenger seat of his vehicle.

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According to a news release on Facebook from the White Settlement Police Department, police were called after a gray Kia Forte four-door passenger vehicle was reported to have extensive front end, hood and windshield damage in the parking lot of a Jack in the Box restaurant. A caller told the dispatcher that there appeared to be a driver slumped over the steering wheel.

An officer responding to the scene noticed a human body with no signs of life in the front passenger seat, police wrote in their Facebook post. The officer had the driver step out of the vehicle and detained him for questioning. Emergency officials pronounced the passenger dead at the scene.

“The call was simply, ‘Hey, there looks like a crashed car and the driver is slumped over the wheel,’” White Settlement police Chief Christopher Cook said, according to KDFW-TV.

The driver, Nestor Joel Lujan Flores, 31, told officers he thought he hit an animal in Dallas and then continued driving 38 miles west to White Settlement, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Based upon the evidence at the scene, detectives believe that Flores struck the pedestrian somewhere between Arlington and White Settlement, police wrote on Facebook.

Detectives believe the impact from the crash was severe enough to throw the pedestrian into the Kia Forte, the Morning News reported.

“Our theory last night was it appeared, based upon the significant damage to the front of the vehicle, that this was a high-speed crash,” Cook said during a Sunday news conference, according to WFAA-TV. “There was significant intrusion into the front of the vehicle, the hood area and most of the passenger side of the windshield was completely caved in and gone. So, we believe that the driver struck a pedestrian somewhere in our region, and that impact forced the pedestrian inside the vehicle and ended up coming to rest in the passenger seat.

“Very unfortunate that he did not realize that this was a human being -- to stop, render aid and call for help.”

On Sunday, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office notified White Settlement of a crash on the westbound service road of Interstate 30 near Cockrell Hill Road, the Morning News reported. Human remains were found near the roadway; authorities are working to determine whether they match those of the body found in the Flores’ vehicle, according to the newspaper.

Flores remains in custody, the Morning News reported. Criminal charges are pending a review by the Dallas County Criminal District Attorney’s Office.