Man charged with hit and run
WORTHINGTON — Bail was set at $15,000 for a man who allegedly caused a head-on collision between two vehicles Tuesday morning before fleeing the scene.
WORTHINGTON — Bail was set at $15,000 for a man who allegedly caused a head-on collision between two vehicles Tuesday morning before fleeing the scene.
Luis Angel Cruz-Rivera, 27, of Worthington, was charged Thursday in Nobles County District Court with two felony and one gross misdemeanor charge of criminal vehicular operation, hit and run and fleeing a peace officer on foot.
Authorities were called to the crash at approximately 7:40 a.m. Tuesday on Diagonal Road, just south of the Viking Drive intersection. According to the complaint, the crash appeared to be a head-on collision that occurred in the northwest bound lane.
A witness who lives near the scene said he heard the noise and ran out the door. He saw a Hispanic man by the trunk of the Taurus, then noted a county highway worker truck pull up.
The witness ran inside to grab his camera and as he went back outside he saw the same Hispanic man walk by his yard. The witness said he asked the man where he was going but did not receive an answer. As police sirens approached, the man moved faster, the witness said. He later identified Cruz-Rivera as the man from the crash.
Several witnesses saw Cruz-Rivera allegedly remove a blue case from the trunk of his brown Ford Taurus after the crash. At least two of those same witnesses saw another man approach Cruz-Rivera, take the case and walk away.
One person said he saw the man who took the case walk away toward Viking Road, and the man who had gotten out of the Taurus ran down Bantom Place, then south to Nobles 35.
A detective for the Worthington Police Department was sitting in his car on West Oxford Street when he saw a man matching the description of the driver who had fled. The man was running south and the detective followed, rolling down the window of his car and asking the man to stop. Cruz-Rivera allegedly changed directions when he saw the detective leave his car, running through a row of hedges and down the ditch bank to Whiskey Ditch. He was eventually taken into custody on Hagge Street. When taken back to the crash scene, all of the witnesses identified him as the driver of the Taurus.
The driver and passenger of the other vehicle, a Toyota Highlander, were taken to the hospital. The driver said he and his father were headed northwest on Diagonal Road when the other car came at him, crossing into his lane. He recalled his vehicle flipping over. The driver broke his leg in two places, and his father suffered bumps and a cut to his forehead.
Cruz-Rivera agreed to give a blood sample, which has been sent to the crime lab for testing, but refused to speak to the officer about the crash.
Investigation into the incident continues.
Tags: hit and run, news, accident, crash, worthington, crime
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