HOUSTON – More details are being revealed Thursday about the driver accused of causing the crash that killed a USPS worker over the weekend.
In court, KPRC 2 learned the driver, 43-year-old Jesus Natividad Gutierrez, lied about his vehicle being stolen when authorities went to his home to question him after the crash.
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Gutierrez has since been charged with failure to stop and render aid involving death, which is a second-degree felony, and filing a false police report in Harris County Criminal Court.
RELATED: USPS postal worker killed in hit-and-run crash in north Houston; driver involved sought
What Happened
On Saturday, Sept. 30, Houston police responded to reports of a crash in the 8100 block of Bauman Road where they found USPS worker Robert Jones critically injured.
Authorities said the driver of a white Ford Expedition was behind the USPS truck and, as the postal truck attempted to make a left turn onto Julia Street, the Expedition attempted to go around it. The Expedition reportedly struck the back left side of the postal truck, which then spun and flipped over. The 29-year-old driver of the postal truck was ejected.
Police said the driver of the Expedition fled the scene without providing medical assistance.
Jones was transported to Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
Investigators said they learned the license plate of the vehicle from witnesses who stopped to help the USPS driver, and from surveillance video.
When they went to the home registered to the Ford Expedition, investigators said the vehicle’s owner, Gutierrez, told them his vehicle had been stolen from a Walmart parking lot on Sept. 30.
Investigators then checked surveillance video from the Walmart where Gutierrez claimed the vehicle was stolen, which showed a different story. Investigators said the surveillance video showed Gutierrez entering the parking lot and also leaving the parking lot in the same vehicle -- the Ford Expedition.
Investigators said additional surveillance video from an auto shop near the location of the crash showed Gutierrez driving to his home in the Ford Expedition after the crash.
Gutierrez, posted a $100,000 bond on Thursday for the crash but was arrested again since he was on probation for a different crime.
Investigators believe alcohol may have been a factor in the deadly crash.