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Driver charged after fleeing fatal pedestrian crash on Central
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An Albuquerque man is accused of fatally striking a pedestrian with a truck Thursday morning before stopping to look at the body and driving off.
Nickolis Taber, 31, is charged with leaving the scene of a fatal crash.
Police did not release the name of the man who died.
At 3:12 a.m., the Albuquerque Police Department responded to a call of a crash involving a pedestrian in the intersection of Truman and Central, according to a criminal complaint filed at Metropolitan Court.
When officers arrived, they found a man lying on the left westbound lane on Central and he died at the scene, APD spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said in a news release.
The Real Time Crime Center informed officers that an automated license plate reader captured a white Mazda pickup heading west on Central when it hit the man. The truck stopped and the driver — later identified as Taber — got out, assessed the damage to the truck, looked at the body and drove off, the complaint states.
At 8:47 a.m., the Isleta Police Department told APD that Taber told them he was in a crash involving a pedestrian off Central and San Mateo and wanted to turn himself in.
Taber told police he had passed San Mateo on Central when a man got in front of his truck and “before he could react,” Taber hit the man, according to the complaint. He told police he got out and tried calling 911, but was placed on hold several times.
Taber told police he panicked and drove away before dropping off the truck in an alleyway in the South Valley, the complaint states.
Police found the pickup with “moderate damage” and a dent on the hood that “appeared to be caused by the male pedestrian’s body from the crash,” police said.
