Federal authorities have filed an immigration detainer against a Columbia motorist charged with driving while intoxicated in Sunday morning’s deadly hit-and-run crash on Route AB.
Boone County prosecutors say 20-year-old Jesus Ornelas-Rios is a flight risk. They’ve charged him with two felonies: DWI and leaving the scene of an accident. Ornelas-Rios is jailed without bond.
Sunday’s early-morning crash happened at about 5 am on Route AB, just east of Highway 63. The Missouri State Highway Patrol’s probable cause statement quotes Ornelas-Rios as saying he had six or seven beers before the crash. The Patrol’s crash report says a vehicle had crashed Sunday morning and was parked partially in the eastbound lane in the ditch when a second driver crossed the center of the road and struck that vehicle and a pedestrian standing near it. Court documents quote Ornelas-Rios as saying a truck hit his truck, pushing his vehicle into the victim.
Court documents say the suspect left the scene without notifying police or first responders, leaving the pedestrian “to die roadside.” A court filing from Boone County prosecutors says Ornelas-Rios was born in Mexico “and may flee the country.”
The pedestrian, a 23-year-old Columbia man, was pronounced dead at the scene. The victim’s name has not been released.
