By Scott Goldstein
The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS — A man driving a stolen Dallas police bait car ran a stop sign in north Oak Cliff and struck another vehicle, killing an 83-year-old woman Monday afternoon, police said.
Dallas police said Eddie Ramirez, 28, apparently saw a marked squad car nearby shortly after he took the car from the 2500 block of Bahama Drive. He was speeding north on South Montreal Avenue and struck the driver’s side of Annie Tovar Reyes’ vehicle at the intersection with West 12th Street about 1:30 p.m., pushing it about 100 feet north, police said.
“He saw the squad car, I believe, and panicked and started accelerating,” Dallas police Sgt. James Johnson said.
Police said that officers in the squad car were searching for the stolen bait car but were not chasing Mr. Ramirez.
“There was no pursuit,” Sgt. Johnson said. “The officers had just spotted the vehicle.”
Dallas police began using bait cars in 2004. Officials in Dallas and surrounding cities have praised them as an effective way to catch car thieves.
The cars are remotely tracked and controlled, though it is unclear whether police attempted to turn off the bait car in Monday’s incident.
“I want to know why the car ran into my mother, what actually happened,” said Alice Leal, one of the victim’s six children.
Ms. Reyes, a great-grandmother, was pronounced dead at Methodist Dallas Medical Center about 2:15 p.m., according to the Dallas medical examiner.
Mr. Ramirez was being treated for injuries at Methodist and was conscious and talking, police said. He is likely to face multiple charges, police said.
Copyright 2008 The Dallas Morning News