A 67-year-old Odessa motorcyclist had to be taken to a Lubbock hospital Tuesday after fracturing his pelvis in a crash authorities said was caused by an 18-year-old who had been drinking.
According to an Odessa Police Department report, the victim was traveling west in the 5000 block of East 52nd Street around 11 p.m. Tuesday when the driver of a Mazda 6 came out of an apartment complex right in front of him, causing him to crash.
The motorcyclist and witnesses told police the driver of the Mazda fled from the scene without stopping. According to the report, police later found the car at the back of the same apartment complex with significant damage to the left front quarter panel and with deployed air bags.
Police identified the driver of the car as Victor Mendoza III. He told officers he’d been drinking at the pool with some friends at the apartment complex prior to the crash and he fled the scene because he panicked at not having a driver’s license, the report stated.
According to the report, Mendoza smelled strongly of an alcoholic beverage.
Mendoza was booked into the Ector County jail on suspicion of accident involving serious bodily injury early Wednesday morning and released later the same day after posting a $10,000 surety bond.
