A Wake County grand jury indicted Jairo Josue Aguilera-Ramos, 32, on an attempted-murder charge in October, months after a pickup truck struck an apartment building in northeast Raleigh, according to the News & Observer. Aguilera-Ramos, who is from Wendell, was arrested in Durham on Aug. 3, three days after the July 31 crash. He remains jailed without bail. He had previously been charged with assault on a female, hit and run, and a misdemeanor domestic violence offense.
What was reported at the scene
The crash happened around 3:15 a.m. at North Oaks Landing Apartments on Forest Oaks Drive. Early reports differed about which person in the truck went to the hospital: CBS 17 said the driver was treated for injuries that were not life-threatening, while WRAL reported that the passenger was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. ABC11 also reported that a passenger was taken to the hospital.
The driver had left before first responders arrived, according to ABC11. The truck damaged the building and brought down a power line; Duke Energy crews responded. ABC11 reported that the Raleigh Fire Department found the building safe and that no residents were displaced. CBS 17 and ABC11 reported that no one inside the building was hurt.
Warrant allegations behind the indictment
The News & Observer’s account of search-warrant materials says investigators believed Aguilera-Ramos was angry after seeing his former girlfriend dancing with another man at a nightclub. Witnesses reportedly told officers that the woman got into his vehicle while he was driving. The outlet reported that she told investigators he struck her while driving and that she lost consciousness. She also said she believed he caused the crash to conceal her injuries.
The woman was treated for a broken jaw and other broken bones on the left side of her face, the News & Observer reported from the warrant materials. An officer wrote that the injuries did not appear consistent with a crash, according to the outlet. Its report also says truck-computer data recorded the engine reaching 99 percent throttle before impact. A warrant described an automatic 911 call from Aguilera-Ramos’s phone; he reportedly told the dispatcher there was no problem and then ended the call. He fled on foot before officers arrived, the News & Observer reported.
