Driver ran over 63-year-old Ogden man at car wash, cleaned his car and fled, police say
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OGDEN, Utah (KSL) — Police on Thursday named the man who died in a hit-and-run crash earlier in the week and also arrested a suspect.
The man was found unconscious Wednesday about 5 p.m. in a parking lot near 7th Street and Washington Avenue, a press release from the Ogden Police Department says.
The man, 63-year-old Stirling Kelso, had been “cleaning the parking lot of a nearby car wash when he was struck by a vehicle,” according to the release. Kelso was pronounced dead at the scene.
Ogden police say they arrested 21-year-old Christian Hernandez Palma for investigation of being the driver in the hit-and-run, driving without a license and failure to maintain a safe and proper lookout.
Nearby security footage showed a gray Lexus begin pulling into the car wash, where the driver “struck a pedestrian who was on the ground cleaning the area,” running Kelso over, according to a police booking affidavit. It remains unclear why Keslo, who was not employed by the car wash, was on the ground cleaning.
Palma, in interviews with police, said he hit the man, and then drove “the car into a nearby bay and washing the vehicle just feet from the victim,” saying he “was scared and didn’t know what to do,” the affidavit says.
A concerned citizen came up to Palma, asking if he knew what happened, but Palma “claimed he did not,” according to the booking report. Palma’s vehicle was seen on security footage followed by a separate truck with company branding, whose driver had a conversation with Palma, police say.
Investigators tracked the business down, the affidavit says, and the Lexus, with “front bumper and undercarriage” damage “consistent with an auto vs. pedestrian collision” was found in the company’s parking lot. The owner of the company “facilitated the return of the workers,” where police arrested Palma.
Police say Palma had a fake U.S. permanent resident ID, no driver’s license, and “appears to be here illegally from Mexico,” the booking report says.
So far, no charges have been filed.
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