Police believe an illegal immigrant was on his way to Mexico when they arrested him for a hit-and-run crash that left a 16-year-old girl with a fractured back.
Investigators contend Alejandro D Lara-Lozano, a 31-year-old illegal immigrant, slammed head-on into a vehicle driven by 16-year-old Madison Reed near Oak View Mall in Omaha on Feb. 4, KETV reports.
Lara-Lozano allegedly fled the scene as Reed and her teenage passenger, both juniors at Marion High School, laid injured in the wreckage.
“I was just horrified, you know, at the condition of my granddaughter’s car … how they survived this accident I’ll never know,” Joan Reed told the news site, adding that she was “very angry” to learn the other driver offered no help.
“How can you just get out of your vehicle and then look at these girls, seeing the extent of the damage?” she questioned.
Lara-Lozano’s ex-wife contacted Joan Reed on Facebook to out her husband as the driver, and said he was hiding in Illinois, according to court records.
Police told KETV they arrested him on Monday at a home in Omaha as he was packing his belongings for a trip to Mexico. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are now considering deportation.
“At this time, we made sure we connected with immigration and they have a hold on him for that purpose,” Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said.
It’s unclear whether Lara-Lozano’s immigration status or other factors contributed to his decision to leave the scene of the crash.
A crime blotter published by Daily Chronicle lists a man with the same name and roughly the same age was arrested in Sycamore, Illinois on Aug. 14 for driving under the influence of alcohol.
Omaha police did not indicate whether alcohol was a factor in the crash.
Joan Reed said the family could care less about Lara-Lozano’s citizenship.
“To us, it makes no difference how he is or where he’s from, whether he’s here legally or illegally,” she said. “That’s is just not something that makes a difference to us at this point.”
She’s more focused on helping her granddaughter overcome the traumatic experience, which left her with a shattered heel and vertebra.
“She’s having some emotional struggles,” Reed said. “She’s got some anger, she’s got some sadness, she’s just trying to kind of come to grips with all of it.”
Both Reed and her friend have been released from the hospital.
Lara-Lozano, meanwhile, is in jail on a $3 million bond and is next scheduled in court on March 10, KETV reports.
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