Inset: Harold Allen. Background: The scene of the fatal crash that Harold Allen allegedly caused in Las Vegas, Nev. (KLAS).
A Nevada man “jumped in a car” at Walmart while a person with mobility issues was inside, and then crashed it — killing the individual who was in the car — after blowing through an intersection, cops and family say.
“I was trying to beat the light,” Harold Allen, 55, allegedly told a witness after the crash, according to court documents obtained by local CBS affiliate KLAS.
Allen is charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping for killing Benito Saragosa, 37, after stealing the car with him inside from a Walmart near Charleston and Decatur boulevards in Las Vegas on Saturday, per police.
Saragosa”s family told KLASÂ that he was a recovering alcoholic who had heart problems that often left him immobile. They suspect that he was unable to fight back or get out of the vehicle because of this.
“My mom would still try to keep him active and moving around. But his heart rate was actually already at 20%,” said Saragosa’s sister, Shelley Saragosa. “He was supposed to [be wearing] a vest to jumpstart his heart and stuff like that,” she explained. “My mom could have got those power chairs that you shop with, the shopping carts. But he was not interested in going inside with a lot of people. Anywhere my mom would go, he’s always waiting in the car.”
Shelley Saragosa said that in addition to being immobile, her brother also “doesn’t like cars going fast,” so she suspects this also played a role in why he didn’t try jumping out. Their mom told police that she was shopping at the Walmart and left her keys in the ignition.
“I’m crying every day because my brother plainly said it. He doesn’t like cars going fast,” Shelley Saragosa told KLAS. “He didn’t want to die like that because he knew it was probably going to feel a lot of pain. And that’s probably what happened.”
Benito Saragosa (KLAS).
Police say Allen crashed into another vehicle after blowing through the red light and then collided with a pole. He was allegedly caught on surveillance getting inside the car and speeding away from the Walmart before crashing.
“I don’t understand why this person just jumped in a car,” Shelley Saragosa said. “That didn’t make any sense. What were you looking for? Just to crash a car? And then you take the life of my brother?”
Saragosa’s mother, Deborah Requena, told KLAS, “I want to ask him [Allen], what was the purpose of it? It didn’t get you nowhere. So why do you have to take my child?”
Allen allegedly told police that his girlfriend drove him to the Walmart and went inside to shop while he also stayed in her vehicle. Allen claimed he went in the store to see where she was, then returned to a car he thought was his girlfriend’s and “wrecked” it, the court documents say.
“[Allen] added that the gas pedal got stuck,” according to the documents. “Harold did not remember if anyone else was in the vehicle with him when he wrecked. As detectives attempted to get more details about what happened after Harold got into the vehicle, he either stated that he did not know or he did not remember.”
Court records show that Allen is being held without bail and is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on April 28.
