A witness described to police seeing a vehicle that was traveling up to 80 mph hit a 14-year-old boy who was riding a skateboard, leading to his death, according to the arrest reports for two men.
Ricardo Licea, 19, and Jesus Rodriguez, 18, face charges of racing causing death, a second-degree felony, in the Nov. 5 hit-and-run death of Jason Buster, the arrest reports said.
Private medical services personnel provided aid to the boy, and Corpus Christi Fire Department medics took him to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries, according to probable cause statements for the men’s arrests.
When Corpus Christi police officers arrived at the scene of the crash at 1600 N. Lexington Blvd., the two men had left, according to the statements. They later returned to the scene, where police detained and questioned them.
A witness account given in the probable cause statements says that Buster had been riding his skateboard on the street the night that a white Dodge Challenger struck him.
The witness, Marcos Hernandez, described to officers what he saw that night as he walked his dog along Lexington Avenue, a street that does not have a sidewalk.
Hernandez told police that he was walking his dog on the south side of the street when he saw Buster riding his skateboard east on Lexington Boulevard.
The witness told police that the boy may have gone to the store.
Hernandez said that about 10 minutes later, he was walking on the north side of Lexington Boulevard when he saw the boy riding his skateboard on the south side of the street.
The probable cause statements say that Hernandez said he heard two vehicles speeding down the street and looked back to see the two vehicles racing down the road at between 60 mph and 80 mph.
Hernandez said he moved his dog out the street and told his kids to move.
Five seconds to 10 seconds after Buster greeted Hernandez and his children, Hernandez saw the Dodge Challenger hit the boy, causing him to fly about 50 feet away, landing in a ditch, the probable cause statements said.
Hernandez told police he ran over to Buster and called 911 while he stayed with him.
He told his wife to run to the Allegiance ambulance facility to ask for help, where she found a medic.
He told police that he sent his kids to go home because Buster was his son’s friend.
He also told police he did not see brake lights on the vehicles, according to the probable cause statements.
A traffic investigator detective arrived at the scene and spoke with Licea, the driver of the Challenger, who told the detective that he was driving back from his mom’s residence at a speed of about 35 mph, the arrest affidavits said.
Licea told the investigator that he did not see anything, and all he remembered was an impact and seeing “a male fly off of his vehicle.”
He told police drove down the street to turn around, parked the car and called his mom before returning to the scene, according to the affidavits.
Licea told police there were two people inside of the gray Dodge Charger driven by Rodriguez.
The traffic investigator also interviewed Rodriguez, who told him that the two were both driving 35 mph and that he did not see anyone get hit, the affidavits said.
Rodriguez told the investigator he saw the bumper of Licea’s vehicle get damaged and noticed a skateboard on the side of the road, the affidavits said. Rodriguez told the officer that he called Licea and told him to pull over.
Police then arrested the two drivers.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Witness described seeing vehicle fatally hit 14-year-old skateboarder, arrest reports say
Reporting by Katie Nickas, Corpus Christi Caller Times / Corpus Christi Caller Times
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