ARLINGTON, Texas — Police arrested a suspect in connection with a hit-and-run accident that killed a 21-year-old woman, Arlington police said.
Investigators believe Areauna Laws, 21, pulled over to the shoulder of I-20 due to car trouble and was standing outside the car when a pickup hit her and her vehicle, according to a press release from Arlington Police.
Officers responded to reports of a hit-and-run around 5:01 a.m. Sunday, June 23, 2024, in the westbound lanes of I-20 near Matlock Road, police said. They found Laws lying unresponsive in the roadway and she was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Witnesses told investigators that they witnessed a tan 1975 Chevrolet Cheyenne truck driving erratically on I-20 before the crash before eventually driving in the shoulder, police said. The driver of the pickup did not stop and crossed over the median onto the I-20 frontage road, police said. Officers later found the suspect's truck abandoned in a nearby shopping center, police said.
Police later identified 26-year-old Josue Rodriguez, who is the registered owner of the truck, as a suspect. Rodriguez initially told police he left his truck outside a venue on Camp Bowie Boulevard in Benbrook, however, surveillance video showed him getting into the vehicle and driving away, the release states. Phone records also show him placing multiple calls from near the crash site just before and after the collision, police said.
Rodriguez was arrested Sept. 17 and charged with one count of accident involving death, police said. He is currently being held on a $40,000 bond.
"The Arlington Police Department wants to remind all drivers if they’re ever involved in a crash where someone may be hurt, state law requires that they remain at or immediately return to the scene until law enforcement arrives -- and to provide reasonable aid to anyone who is injured," the release states.