SAN ANTONIO – A man has been arrested in the hit-and-run death of a pedestrian on the East Side last week.
San Antonio police said Alvin Charles Bates, 43, hit Jon Abraham Ortega, 25, before 7 a.m. Wednesday in the 200 block of S. WW White Road, just south of Interstate 10.
An arrest warrant affidavit states that Bates was driving a 2011 silver Dodge Durango northbound on WW White at the time.
Ortega was walking across the road when he was hit by the Durango, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Bates drove left into a parking lot, but then exited the lot and drove north on WW White, police said.
Surveillance video showed the vehicle strike the victim, drive into the parking lot and then leave the location. The footage also showed that the Durango had an inoperable passenger headlight.
Police said car parts left behind at the scene belonged to a 2011-2019 Dodge Durango.
On Monday, a man called the police to report Bates, who was one of his employees at his business.
The man said a manager reported they saw blood on Bates’ Durango on Wednesday after he arrived at work, the affidavit states. When the manager asked Bates about the blood, Bates said it was paint transfer from an accident.
The affidavit states that at some point during the day, an unknown person picked up the Durango and the vehicle was never seen again.
Police arrested Bates for warrants on Monday at his job.
When asked about the hit-and-run crash, he first said he didn’t know anything about the case, but later admitted to hitting Ortega, police said.
Bates said “it was an accident and he did not mean to hit the person,” the affidavit states. He also said that he left the scene because he was scared.
He “refused to tell” police what happened to the Durango, according to investigators.
Bates was charged with failure to stop and render aid resulting in death, a second-degree felony. His bond is set at $60,000.
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