Woman Hit & Killed In Strip Mall Parking Lot, Driver Arrested
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Dallas police say a man is in jail thanks to witnesses who held him down until officers arrived, after he allegedly hit and killed a woman in the parking lot of a strip shopping center.
It was Sunday evening when police say Juan Carlos Velasquez parked his SUV in the 3o00 block of Dawes Drive in Oak Cliff. After stepping out of his truck for a short time, witnesses say Velasquez got back in the vehicle, put it in reverse and hit the gas -- hard. Moving at a high rate of speed, the SUV fishtailed and hit a woman who as walking across the street.
According to people at the scene, after crashing into a parked vehicle Velasquez jumped out of the SUV, bent down and saw the woman, later identified as Maria Cruz Gonzalez-Cortes, underneath.
Police say after seeing the 24-year-old women under his truck Velasquez tried to run from the scene on foot, but was chased by a witness and held down until police arrived.
Gonzalez-Cortes was later pronounced dead.
Velasquez, 47, has been charged with Failure to Stop and Render Aid, causing death. He is being held in the Dallas County Jail on $100,000 bond.
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