Meet Juan Salazar, the Man Who Allegedly Ran Over a 7-Year-Old Girl and Drove Away

Over the weekend, two pedestrians were struck and killed as they crossed Dallas streets. One was 71-year-old James Sadler, who apparently stepped into traffic on Illinois in Oak Cliff just before 8 p.m. on Saturday. Around the same time, Devora Lopez, 7, was walking across Northwest Highway near Bachman Lake...

By Eric Nicholson

September 17, 2012

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Over the weekend, two pedestrians were struck and killed as they crossed Dallas streets. One was 71-year-old James Sadler, who apparently stepped into traffic on Illinois in Oak Cliff just before 8 p.m. on Saturday.

Around the same time, Devora Lopez, 7, was walking across Northwest Highway near Bachman Lake with her grandmother at about 8 p.m. Saturday when she was hit by a black Dodge Durango. The driver of a second vehicle that struck her stopped to help. The driver of the Durango drove off with damage to the front left headlight.

Devora was taken to Children's Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.

A day-and-a-half later, police found the Durango and arrested its alleged driver, 34-year-old Juan Francisco Salazar. He's charged with failing to stop and render aid, a third-degree felony that carries between two and 10 years in prison and a maximum $10,000 fine.

Which seems awfully light. Accidents happen, but it takes a special type to run over a kid and drive away. And while we're thinking about punishing people, maybe we should lock up whoever designed that stretch of Northwest Highway.

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