Man drove to bar with ‘mangled corpse’ in his car after he hit pedestrian, TX cops say
An Austin man hit a pedestrian and drove with the body of the man in his car before going to a beer garden, police said in multiple media reports.
Police said Paul Joseph Garcia Jr., 24, is accused of hitting a pedestrian “at a high speed” on Saturday, according to KXAN. The body flew through the windshield, and Garcia allegedly drove for another half-mile with the person in the passenger seat, KXAN reported.
Garcia was described by witnesses as walking “calmly” from the car and into the South Austin Beer Garden, the Austin American-Statesman reported. He was walking barefoot and “in a manner that caught the attention of the other patrons,” according to an arrest affidavit, the American-Statesman said.
Officers administered sobriety tests on Garcia and arrested him on a charge of “driving while intoxicated,” the outlet reported.
The victim was pushing a shopping cart and when Garcia allegedly hit him, “the cart hit the mailboxes with a force that was able to bend a two-inch thick galvanized, steel post,” according to KXAN.
Some of the pedestrian’s body parts were in the road and inside the car, according to KVUE. The person sustained “extreme, traumatic head injuries.”
Garcia was booked into Travis County Correctional Complex and charged with intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle, a second-degree felony, among other traffic charges, according to inmate records.
He’s being held on a combined $110,000 bond.
