A grisly discovery was made in a White Settlement restaurant parking lot where a man was found with a dead pedestrian in his car after a crash, authorities said. The driver, identified as Nestor Joel Lujan Flores, struck the victim on Saturday night before driving to a Jack in the Box parking lot with the body sitting in the passenger seat, as reported by FOX 4 News.
The White Settlement Police received a call just after 11 p.m. about a crashed car with a driver slumped over the wheel. According to White Settlement Police Chief Christopher Cook, "The call was simply, ‘Hey, there looks like a crashed car, and the driver is slumped over the wheel.’" Upon arrival, officers not only noticed significant damage to the front of the Kia Forte but also found what appeared to be a deceased person next to the impaired driver, per WFTV.
Though Flores was unaware of his location, he reportedly believed he had hit an animal in Dallas and proceeded to the parking lot without contacting authorities. "A little bit of confusion at the scene. He didn’t realize where he was and thinks he struck an animal, and in reality, we know now it was a pedestrian," Chief Cook said in a statement. The actual collision site was later identified by Dallas County Sheriff’s Office deputies, who discovered human body parts at I-30 and Cockrell Hill Road, as per FOX 4 News.
Investigators pieced together Flores's movements before the crash using surveillance footage from a Flock camera. It showed his car, not yet wrecked, at 6 p.m. at the intersection of East Mayfield and New York Avenue in Arlington. "So from 6:01 p.m., we believe he drove into Dallas County, was likely involved in a collision at I-30, Cockrell Hill, and then gets in our city around 8 o'clock," Cook provided further detail. Following the incident, Flores, who was previously arrested and convicted for driving while intoxicated in 2021, remained at the scene for over three hours before the police were alerted, as per Fox 4 News.
The name of the victim has yet to be released as the case continues to develop. Cook expressed his frustration with the nature of the incident, labeling it both traumatic and avoidable. On a somber note, he commented, "These types of cases are very frustrating to our team because, not only is it dramatic to see the trauma to a human body like this, but we know these things are avoidable." Flores is currently being held at the White Settlement jail pending charges in Dallas County, which is believed to be the location of the initial crash, as detailed by FOX 4 News.
