Detainee’s charges dropped

When a 28-year-old Houston man was detained last week at the Canadian border with a small amount of marijuana and a damaged front fender, Canadian authorities were suspicious.

Matthew Putterman told them he had driven the 1,473 miles from Texas to get his car fixed.

He was initially detained on Jan. 14 for drug smuggling. That’s when Canadian authorities saw eyebrow-raising texts that he had been in a wreck, but he did not think the victim had died, according to court records.

When police in Houston could not find any reports matching the crash he described, a wider dragnet went out and Putterman became a suspect in a fatal hit-and-run case in the Montrose area on Jan. 8.

Witnesses had seen a dark-colored, four-door vehicle hit 21-year-old Michael Hill about 12:30 a.m.

Looking at Putterman’s dark blue Hyundai Sonata with a damaged front end, the pieces seemed to fit, and he was charged with failure to stop and render aid, a felony.

On Thursday, police saw surveillance video that shows the car was not damaged 12 hours after the latenight wreck, and the Harris County district attorney’s office dropped the charges. Within hours, he walked out of the North Dakota jail where he’s been held. Neither he nor family members could be reached for comment.

In a lengthy arrest affidavit, authorities outline that Putterman was acting suspicious and that the text messages were concerning.

That led authorities in North Dakota to detain him on charges of tampering with evidence. He was later charged in Harris County for failure to stop and render aid, the legal charge for fleeing a hit and run.

Jeff McShan, the spokesman for the Harris County District Attorney’s office, said the investigation continues into Hill’s death.

He said that the information in the arrest statement was enough to charge Putterman, noting that it was approved by a judge.

Witnesses told police the driver in the crash failed to slow down for a red light in the 400 block of Westheimer and failed to yield to Hill, who had the right-of-way as he walked across the intersection.