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May 19, 2021
- News
- By Cesar Ornelas
San Antonio, TX
Tip Leads to Man’s Arrest in Fatal Hit-and-Run of Jogger Along Loop 1604 in San Antonio
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, the driver accused of fatally striking a runner along Loop 1604 earlier in the month claimed that he thought he hit a deer.
Findings with the Bexar County jail show that Joel Angel Zaragoza, 28, was arrested outside of a gym on Tuesday night. Zaragoza faces a charge of failure to render aid resulting in death, which is a second-degree felony. His bond is currently set for $50,000.00.
Lisa Rosenstein, a well-known runner, was struck by a vehicle around 7 a.m. on May 2nd, 2021. Rosenstein was running along the North Loop 1604 W eastbound access road between Lockhill Selma Road and NM Military Highway.
According to the affidavit, Rosenstein’s body was located in a grass shoulder by a bicyclist riding on the access road near the scene of the incident. Suspecting that the woman was dead, the bicyclist immediately phoned the police when he learned that she had no pulse.
The police confirmed that parts of the suspect’s vehicle’s headlamps were located at the scene, leading officers to believe the car that hit Rosenstein was a 2012-2014 Ford Focus. In addition to this finding, surveillance footage also captured the vehicle driving away from the crash site and travel along the access road until Blanco Road.
The affidavit states that the SAPD received a tip on May 18th “from a concerned citizen about a possible suspect vehicle”.
After following this tip, the SAPD found the vehicle, which had a conveniently repaired headlight and passenger side mirror, as well as damage to the right fender and hood, at an apartment complex in the 600 block of E. Sonterra Boulevard in Stone Oak.
Eventually, police confronted the vehicle’s owner, later identified as Zaragoza, outside a Lifetime Fitness gym. Zaragoza maintained that the damage was from hitting a deer, but he did not know where or when an “incident” with the deer occurred, investigators said.
Initially, police said that the car had drifted onto the shoulder lane.
“I asked the defendant if he could definitively say he hit a deer, and he said no,” the affidavit states. He also told officers that he had a blowout and swerved to the right, striking the deer, and his front windshield was “fogged up”.
Rosenstein did not have an ID on her, but her husband pinged her cell phone and went to the crash site. The victim’s friends told KSAT that the 27-time marathoner was “tough as nails” but “had a heart of gold”.
Vehicle Accident Resources
Tip leads to man’s arrest in fatal hit-and-run of jogger along Loop 1604 on North Side (ksat.com)
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