SAN ANTONIO – A man charged in a fatal hit-and-run told San Antonio police that he knew he should have stayed at the scene but left because he “panicked and was scared,” according to an arrest affidavit.
Records show Jerome Armstrong, 50, was arrested Monday after police reviewed surveillance footage and received an anonymous tip regarding the crash, which occurred around 10 p.m. Thursday at Pecan Valley Drive and Goliad Road.
An arrest affidavit states the pedestrian, identified as 75-year-old Jung Mu Kim, was walking across the 6100 block of Pecan Valley in a marked crosswalk when he was struck by Armstrong’s pickup truck.
After the crash, Armstrong pulled into the parking lot of a Speedy Cash and assessed damage to his truck, police said.
Two other vehicles pulled into the parking lot with Armstrong. Investigators said those two drivers also assessed damage to the truck and walked to the crash scene to help the victim, but Armstrong got back inside his truck and fled on Goliad Road.
Debris on the roadway led investigators to believe the vehicle involved in the crash was an older model GMC or Chevrolet pickup truck.
The affidavit states an anonymous caller contacted the police after seeing the crash in local news.
The caller said the driver “thought he hit a cart in the roadway," the affidavit states. The tipster also detailed the damage to the truck and led authorities to its location.
Authorities found the damaged vehicle, a 1997 GMC Sierra, near the 3500 block of Goliad Road.
Investigators spoke with Armstrong at the residence. He told detectives that he was waiting for police “to knock on the door since the crash date,” the affidavit states.
He “panicked and was scared” following the crash, the affidavit states, and “knew he should have remained at the scene but left instead.”
Armstrong told authorities that he did not see the man in the roadway, the document states.
He was charged with failure to stop and render aid-death, a second-degree felony, records show. His bond was set at $60,000.