HOUSTON – Houston Police Department investigators are trying to determine if they'll file charges against an elderly driver who hit and killed a construction worker in Clear Lake Thursday evening and briefly fled the scene.
"I (saw) the police pull up behind me at Exxon and he had grabbed a guy out of the car and slammed him up against the car," said Bonnie Bench, who works at a fast food restaurant near the crash. "I was like, 'What's going on?'"
Investigators said the construction worker was apparently trying to cross Galveston Road between Pineloch Street and Clear Lake City Boulevard shortly before 6 Thursday evening. He was hit by a Lexus that was driving northbound just outside an athletic complex.
Police said the 78-year-old driver of the Lexus kept going afterward, swerving onto a grassy shoulder. He didn't pull over until another driver tracked him down.
Once police arrived, they detained him at a nearby gas station to perform sobriety tests. They then took him to police headquarters for questioning. Charges are pending.
As the driver sat in the back seat of a squad car, those who witnessed the scene tried to process it.
"I broke down crying," Bonnie Bench said. "My co-worker was like, 'What's wrong?' And I told him, because you just don't know. It could be a child, so I feel for the family."
Police said they're also looking into the driver's medical history to determine if it may have played a factor in the accident.