Police: Man was on sidewalk when struck
The man who was struck by a pickup truck Downtown early Saturday afternoon had been standing on the sidewalk waiting to cross the street when he was hit, according to recently filed court documents.
Emilio Gomez was taken to the hospital where he died.
The driver of the pickup truck, Matthew Lowe, 32, was arrested later that day and is charged with leaving the scene of an accident causing death and tampering with evidence.
According to a search warrant affidavit filed in 2nd Judicial District Court, officers were called to the intersection across from the Alvarado Transportation Center on Oct. 21.
When they arrived, they found “Mr. Lowe went through the intersection at Central and 1st and drove off the roadway onto the sidewalk on the northwest side of the intersection,” an officer wrote in the affidavit. “Emilio Gomez was standing on the northwest corner waiting to cross the street and Mr. Lowe struck him with the vehicle.”
Officers found Lowe at the Express Inn several blocks away a short time later. He told them he had fallen asleep and he knew he hit something but didn’t know what it was, according to the affidavit.
And, he told them, his passenger said he had just struck an orange construction barrel and it was OK to drive away.
When police talked to Lowe’s passenger, he told them he was not sure if it was a barrel. He said when they saw officers arriving at the motel, Lowe said he would pay him “any amount of money” if he took the fall. The passenger refused. According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, Lowe performed poorly on a sobriety test, admitted to drinking and using methamphetamine the night before, and had been seen earlier in the day smoking marijuana.
When police searched his truck they found two glass pipes, one with white residue and one with burnt leafy residue, as well as a bag with a “green leafy substance,” according to a search warrant inventory.
Prosecutors have filed a motion asking for Lowe to be held in jail until trial. A District Court judge will hold a hearing on that motion today.