Inset: Demetrius Thomas (Metropolitan Detention Center/Bernalillo County). Background: The area in Albuquerque, N.M., where Demetrius Thomas allegedly caused a fatal crash involving a pedestrian (Google Maps).
A New Mexico man allegedly killed a woman while driving drunk, sped away from the crash and then called his father to pick him up — prompting the dad to turn him in to police, saying "He's the one who f—ing did it."
Demetrius Thomas, 34, is accused of striking and killing a woman while driving a gray Ford SUV near Central Avenue NE and Texas Street SE in Albuquerque on Sept. 25, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Law&Crime.
Instead of stopping, Thomas drove about 0.6 miles to his apartment, leaving the victim dead in the roadway as bystanders performed CPR, the complaint says.
When officers arrived at the crash scene, a man flagged them down and pointed toward a gray SUV traveling away from the area. The man who flagged them down was Thomas' father, according to the complaint.
"Come over here because he's the one who f—ing did it," the father allegedly told officers.
The SUV Thomas was driving had damage to its front passenger-side bumper and hood, while its windshield was caved in on the passenger side. Thomas stepped out and was detained.
Investigators later learned that Thomas allegedly called his father after the crash and asked him to come get him. "I'm like son, what the f— do you want me to do?" the dad recalled saying to Thomas, according to the complaint. "Um, you gotta go back over there. You hit somebody. You don't know if they hurt or not, you gotta go back over there."
Thomas' father allegedly asked his son whether he had been drinking. "Yeah," Thomas replied, according to the complaint.
During questioning, however, Thomas told police he had not consumed anything that could impair his ability to drive, including alcohol or drugs.
While officers were putting him into a patrol vehicle, Thomas was asked again whether he had consumed alcohol. This time, he allegedly admitted he had consumed "one shot of Admiral Nelson around 9 a.m."
Thomas then explained the deadly crash, saying, "She ran out in front of me and I didn't want to stop," according to the complaint. Thomas allegedly told police he had been driving home and said he was traveling at the speed limit because "there's a camera right there."
He claimed, "I stepped on the brake and she hit, she ran into the car and I got scared," according to the complaint.
Thomas allegedly acknowledged that he went home after the collision because he was scared, and said his parents told him to turn himself in.
Police obtained surveillance footage from an Albuquerque Transit bus showing Thomas' SUV traveling along Central Avenue while straddling the left and center lanes. The victim is seen crossing the roadway southbound before she begins running and is struck on the SUV's passenger side, according to the complaint. The victim died "on impact," police say.
Thomas allegedly failed his field sobriety tests and police determined he was "impaired" while driving. Police charged him with homicide by vehicle-DWI and knowingly leaving the scene of a death.