Drunk Driver Arrested After Police Find Body of Pedestrian They Say He Struck in Passenger Seat

The suspect told police he believed he had hit an animal, according to authorities

A Texas man has been arrested after police discovered the body of a pedestrian they say he struck in the passenger seat of his car.

The suspect, 31-year-old Nestor Joel Lujan Flores, is accused of fatally striking the pedestrian in Dallas on Saturday night and then driving approximately 38 miles to a restaurant parking lot in White Settlement, according to a news release from the White Settlement Police Department on Facebook Sunday.

Flores told police that he believed he had hit an animal in Dallas and “continued driving to this parking lot,” the release added. “The driver never notified police or fire emergency responders of this incident.”

Police were responding to a welfare check from a caller at 11:13 p.m. local time who reported that the driver of a car, later determined to be a Kia Forte, appeared to be slumped over the steering wheel and the vehicle had extensive damage to its front end, hood and windshield.

“The officer arrived and noticed what appeared to be a human body with no signs of life in the front passenger seat,” the release continued. “The officer immediately had the driver step out of the vehicle and detained him for further investigation. Emergency fire department and medical personnel were called to the scene and determined that the passenger was deceased.”

Authorities were initially unsure of where the suspect struck the pedestrian, but they believed he arrived at the restaurant parking lot between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. “Detectives believe the impact was so severe, that the pedestrian was thrown inside the vehicle and came to rest on the passenger seat,” the release noted.

Flores remains in custody at White Settlement Jail on a pending charge of intoxication manslaughter. In 2021 he was convicted of driving while intoxicated in nearby Collin County.

On Sunday morning, the White Settlement Police Department said in a separate Facebook release that they worked overnight with other law enforcement agencies to determine the location of the crash and were notified by the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office of a crash on the westbound service road of Interstate 30 near Cockrell Hill Road in Dallas County.

“According to Dallas County Sheriff’s Office investigators, human remains were located near the roadway that may possibly match the victim’s body that was recovered from inside the vehicle in the restaurant parking lot,” the release said. “The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office will work with the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office to make proper identification of the decedent.”

The pedestrian’s cause of death will also be determined by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office, according to the release.

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The White Settlement Police Department will transition the case to the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office for referral and prosecution in Dallas County. Investigators also obtained a blood search warrant, per the release, and the results are pending.

According to local media outlet NBC Dallas-Fort Worth, White Settlement Police Chief Christopher Cook told reporters of Flores, "Once we placed him in the backseat of our car the officer commented that it smelled like a brewery in the backseat of his patrol car.”

"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 continued. “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.”

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