SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The red and blue lights that flashed up and down West Pyron Avenue near Pleasanton Road early Tuesday were hard to miss.
Yet, Jose Caliendo, who lives nearby, never noticed them at all.
“My family and myself, we were sleeping inside the house,” he said. “We didn’t hear or see anything.”
It wasn’t until he headed out for the morning that Caliendo realized something out of sorts.
Down the middle of his neighborhood street were markings in yellow spray paint, highlighting what San Antonio police say was a deadly crash caused by a driver on the run.
“I saw the paint and I said, ‘What happened here?’,” Caliendo said, recalling his reaction to the remains of the crash scene.
Police said Leo Pinero, 19, was driving the car around midnight and had sped away from officers after they tried to get him to stop a few blocks away.
A preliminary report states that undercover detectives had been watching Pinero for some time and believed he had a large amount of drugs on him.
Police said once a marked patrol unit flashed its lights, Pinero took off and then lost control of the car.
The vehicle jumped a curb and hit a concrete wall before running over a woman who was walking along the sidewalk, according to police.
The woman was caught beneath the car and dragged down the street.
Police said they were not chasing Pinero at the time.
Domingo Gonzales jumped out of bed after hearing the sound of a car screeching, followed by a thud.
“(It sounded) like braking,” he said. “They ran into the trash cans over there.”
Police said in the middle of the chaos, Pinero jumped out of the car and ran, but officers caught him and took him into custody.
He remains in the Bexar County Adult Detention Center on charges of murder and evading arrest.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet identified the woman who was killed.