Teen injured, driver arrested in hit-and-run

Oct. 06--El Paso police investigators on Tuesday arrested a driver accused of a hit-and-run that injured a 16-year-old girl who grabbed onto his car and fell in Downtown last weekend, officials said.

Omar Esparza, 22, of El Paso, was arrested on a charge of accident involving serious bodily injury, police said Wednesday.

The girl, identified as Fatima Vejar, received serious head injuries and had to undergo emergency surgery at University Medical Center of El Paso her family told Channel 14-KFOX.

The incident occurred about 2 a.m. Saturday in the 500 block of East Mills Avenue after Esparza, who was driving red Toyota Scion tC , got into an argument with an 18-year-old woman, police said. The 16-year-old girl was also a passenger.

According to a police news release, Esparza refused to return items in the car to the 18-year-old woman. As Esparza began to drive away, the 18-year-old grabbed onto the hood of the car and the younger girl grabbed onto the trunk.

Esparza allegedly kept driving with the young women "hanging onto the vehicle, speeding up, slowing down and stopping the vehicle," the police new release stated. The younger girl fell from the car and suffered serious head injuries.

Esparza allegedly drove away, returned to the scene but never got out of his car and eventually left, police said. He was arrested by the Special Traffic Investigations Unit. He was jailed in lieu of a $20,000 bond.

El Paso County Jail records show Esparza was also booked on nine traffic warrants from 2013 for no driver's license, using a cellphone while driving, no insurance, speeding, an expired inspection sticker and expired license plates.

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