Texas driver Pedro Alberto Hernandez was recently arrested and charged with DWI and murder after running over six-year-old boy Darien Lewis three times.
According to The Houston Police Department, Hernandez was arrested and charged with murder after fatally running Lewis over in a 11231 Bissonnet Street parking lot on Oct. 1. The Texas man was also charged with driving while intoxicated –his third DWI charge – at the 351st State District Court on Oct. 3.
“What we believe happened is: he struck the child, ran over the child, then was told that he had struck the child, and so he backed up again onto the child. Those are all things that a sober person doesn’t do,” a spokesperson from the department told Fox 26.
When he hit Lewis, Hernandez was reportedly driving a white Chevrolet Tahoe through a shopping center parking lot. At the time, the six-year-old was running across the lot after running ahead of his grandfather, Dana Hubbard. That’s when, police said, the irresponsible 52-year-old man tragically ran over Lewis three times. Before Hernandez struck the child a third time, he was alerted about it, but he backed up and struck Lewis again anyway. When paramedics arrived, the boy was pronounced dead at the scene.
“He came in on my left side and hit my grandson. That’s how close he was to me,” a devastated Hubbard told ABC 13. “I was able to hit his car to let him know what happened. I ran around and said, ‘You just hit my grandson.’ He stopped, he backed up, drove over my grandson again, and stopped his truck on his head.”
He mentioned that Hernandez smirked and tried to hit him, as the alleged killer thought it was funny.
“I swung out on him because he was laughing and thought it was funny,” Hubbard recalled.
Officers questioned Hernandez and determined that he was intoxicated at the scene. The inebriated suspect eventually confessed to police that before hitting Lewis, he had consumed “numerous beers” earlier in the day. Hernandez was taken into custody and charged with the two felonies.
