Drunken driver sentenced after driving 40 miles with victim's body in front seat
Police: Suspect drove 40 miles with man's body
Nestor Joel Lujan Flores was found passed out in a White Settlement restaurant parking lot on Saturday night with a dead body inside of his car, nearly 40 miles from the Dallas crash site.
DALLAS - A man who drove nearly 40 miles after a hit-and-run crash with his victim’s body in the front seat received a 15-year prison sentence.
What's new:
According to the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, 31-year-old Nestor Lujan Flores pleaded guilty to intoxicated manslaughter and collision involving death.
A judge then sentenced him to 15 years in prison for both charges. The maximum sentence he faced was 20 years.
The backstory:
Investigators determined Flores hit 45-year-old Terry Ivory in a crosswalk on the westbound Interstate 30 service road near Cockrell Hill Road in West Dallas in December 2023.
Flores was intoxicated at the time and didn’t stop, even though the impact sent the victim through his windshield.
Officer: Driver 'smelled like a brewery' after hitting Dallas pedestrian, driving nearly 40 miles
Nestor Joel Lujan Flores was found passed out in a White Settlement restaurant parking lot on Saturday night with a dead body inside of his car, nearly 40 miles from the Dallas crash site.
Officers later discovered Flores’s car parked at a Jack in the Box in White Settlement, which is about 40 miles away from the scene of the crash. Ivory’s body was discovered in the front passenger seat.
Records showed Flores still had a blood alcohol level still below the legal limit the next morning.
He also had a prior DWI conviction from 2020.
What they're saying:
"This case is a stark reminder of the devastation caused by impaired driving," Dallas County DA John Creuzot said in a statement. "The victim lost his life, and a family was forever changed. This sentence reflects the seriousness of the defendant's actions and holds him accountable for the harm he caused."
"While the punishment range for a second-degree felony is 2 to 20 years, investigators worked diligently on this case to hold the suspect accountable for his actions that claimed the life of an innocent pedestrian in Dallas County," the White Settlement Police Department said on its Facebook page.
Terry Ivory
What's next:
Flores must serve at least half of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.
The Source: The information in this story comes from the Dallas County District Attorney's Office, the White Settlement Police Department, and past news coverage.