Inset: Alina Gonzalez-Morelos (Pasadena Police Department). Background: The sidewalk near where Gonzalez-Morelos allegedly ran down her husband in Pasadena, Tex. (Google Maps).
A Texas woman is behind bars after killing her husband by running him over during an argument, Lone Star State police say.
Alina Gonzalez-Morelos, 37, stands accused of one count of murder in the first degree over the death of Leonardo Mendoza, 42, according to a press release issued by the Pasadena Police Department.
The underlying incident occurred over the weekend in Pasadena, a large city located roughly 15 miles southeast of Houston.
There, near a Pizza Hut at the intersection of Red Bluff Road and Deepwater Avenue, the man was run down on the sidewalk.
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During the early morning hours on Sunday, officers were called in response to a “fail to stop and render aid” call, which, in the parlance of local law enforcement, is referred to by its acronym of “FSRA,” according to the police department.
A 911 caller said a black Chevrolet Tahoe hit a pedestrian on the sidewalk and then fled the scene, according to law enforcement. Mendoza was located and said to be suffering from serious injuries.
The victim was rushed to HCA Houston Healthcare Southeast, a nearby hospital, but later succumbed to his injuries, police say.
Detectives eventually made their way to the scene of the crime and began a “thorough investigation,” according to the police department.
Investigators allegedly determined Mendoza and his wife were “engaged in a verbal altercation at their residence shortly before the incident,” police say. The husband is believed to have left the couple”s residence on foot. Then, when he was walking on the sidewalk, he was allegedly mowed down by his wife, according to law enforcement.
The argument that allegedly led to the violence is believed to have been about a text message, according to court documents obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The exact details of the message are currently not a matter of public record.
The defendant, for her part, admitted to the crime, police say. Gonzalez-Morelos allegedly told investigators she “accelerated” her SUV onto the sidewalk, drove through two poles, and then hit her husband, according to law enforcement.
The case has been taken over by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, police said. The alleged self-created widow was initially detained in the Pasadena Police Department headquarters and is awaiting transport to the Harris County Joint Processing Center.
