Suspect in fatal hit and run arrested
Man, 32, admits to having been drinking and taking drugs
Police have arrested a driver accused of hitting a pedestrian, killing the person Downtown early in the afternoon on Saturday.
Matthew Lowe, 32, is charged with leaving the scene of an accident causing death and tampering with evidence. He was booked into the county jail.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, he performed poorly on sobriety tests, and told officers he had taken two shots and used methamphetamine the night before.
Shortly after arriving at the scene of the fatal crash on Central and First Street around 12:40 p.m., officers were told the driver had fled and was at the Express Inn several blocks away.
When they found Lowe at the inn, he told them about his day, picking up a friend and driving Downtown to meet someone he
had contacted online.
Lowe denied hitting anyone with his car, but did say he heard “a scraping noise,” according to the complaint. He told police he thought he had hit a construction barrel or sign and continued on his way.
When officers asked if he was intoxicated, he told them about drinking and using meth the night before. His friend told police he had seen Lowe smoking marijuana earlier in the day. Marijuana was also found in Lowe’s pockets, according to the complaint.
“A search warrant was completed and blood was obtained from the driver which was given to NM Scientific Laboratory Division to be tested,” officer Simon Drobik, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department, wrote in an email about the crash over the weekend.
He said Sunday that the pedestrian’s family had not yet been told about the death.