Hit-and-run car accidents: Driver surrenders after 5 months
When a family is left without closure after a loved one is killed, the continual uncertainty can be very traumatic. In July of 2013, a 31-year-old Tennessee woman was killed in one of the hit-and-run car accidents that occur on the highways every year. The driver of the other vehicle had been on the run ever since. A 35-year-old man finally stepped up recently and surrendered to authorities in connection with the incident.
In the early morning hours of July 20, the man was traveling alone in the wrong direction on Interstate 24 and smashed into an eastbound vehicle. A female in the other vehicle was killed while three other occupants of the car were injured. The man then drove off and fled to Mexico, from where he recently contacted authorities to obtain information regarding the investigation into the accident.
Authorities gave the man the contact information of a U.S. Marshall who awaited his call. The hit-and-run driver eventually contacted the U.S. Marshal who engaged in long telephone conversations with him, trying to convince the man to surrender. The efforts finally paid off, and the fugitive agreed to surrender at the port of entry in Laredo, where he surrendered calmly and is now awaiting extradition in a Texas county jail.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol will be charging him with being a fugitive, as well as not remaining at the scene of an automobile accident where fatalities were present. THP also stated that further charges may follow. The relatives of the deceased woman retain the right to file a claim of wrongful death in a Tennessee court. Injured victims of car accidents are also free to file personal injury claims in a court. After successful litigation, restitution may be granted, and the families may finally have closure as well as financial help to cover costs incurred as a result of the tragedy.
Source: chattanoogan.com, Nashville man involved in Rutherford County crash that killed Chattanooga woman apprehended, No author, Dec. 16, 2013