An Arlington man convicted of driving while intoxicated in 2020 is now accused in a gruesome drunken driving crash over the weekend in Dallas.
Police said 31-year-old Nestor Joel Lujan Flores smashed into a pedestrian, dismembering his body, and driving with part of the victim’s body inside his car some 40 miles into the city of White Settlement.
When a White Settlement officer responded to a welfare check at a Jack in the Box fast food restaurant along Interstate 30, Flores allegedly told the officer he had hit a deer in Dallas, according to police.
It took hours for someone to notice the wrecked vehicle and call 911 just before 11:15 Saturday night. A worried customer called for help, according to the 911 call obtained by NBC 5.
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“I just came through the drive-thru, and there is a guy in his car,” the woman is heard saying to the 911 dispatcher. “It looks like he’s been in a car wreck, and he’s just slumped over, and I want to make sure he was OK.”
Little could the customer or White Settlement police fathom what they’d find inside the smashed-up Kia Forte, driven, police said, by Flores.
“He smelled like a brewery, according to the officer,” said White Settlement Chief of Police Christopher Cook.
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Cook said he still can’t wrap his head around Flores’ assumption.
“To think how callous somebody could be that they don’t even realize what they’ve done. They are so impaired they have no idea that there is a body in the car,” said Cook. “I don’t understand that.”
Inside the car was a portion of a man’s body. Part of his legs and pants had been blown off on impact, according to police.
Deputies with the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office were called to a potential crash scene along the service road to I-30 and Cockrell Hill on Sunday morning, where they made a gruesome discovery.
“They get there, and they can’t find the crash,” said Cook. “As they’re searching for vehicle debris, seeing if a crash occurred, they locate human remains.”
Deputies were aware of White Settlement’s investigation and together were able to determine both scenes were linked.
Cook said it appeared the victim was a 45-year-old homeless man after hearing from his worried friend and finding his identification card and loose dollar bills inside Flores’ car.
Investigators are gathering evidence onboard the car to determine exactly where Flores traveled and how fast he was driving during the collision.
It’s estimated he was driving at least 38 mph at the point of impact, according to White Settlement Police.
“It is tragic. It is gruesome,” said Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn when asked to comment on the incident that ended in his county. “It’s completely preventable. This was completely preventable.”
The horrifying case coincided with a planned press conference announcing a two-week-long stepped-up DWI enforcement across the county.
Leaders from 19 law enforcement agencies, including Fort Worth Police and the Texas Department of Public Safety, gathered for a press conference Monday afternoon where the weekend crash was top of mind.
“Law enforcement in Tarrant County is united to absolutely go after DWI drivers,” said Waybourn. “If those chuckleheads go out and they drink and they drive, we will be waiting on them with force.”
According to the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office, they registered nearly 300 DWI arrests in 2023.
During the press conference, Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells spoke about the joint effort between law enforcement and prosecutors to bring offenders to justice. Sorrells appealed to the public to spare families the pain of losing a loved one during the holidays, calling it a 100% preventable crime.
“It’s never easy any time, but during this time of the season, you’re creating a memory for people forever,” he said. “Don’t do it. Don’t drink and drive.”
According to Waybourn, about 70% of drunken drivers become repeat offenders.
In Flores’ case, the 31-year-old has a 2021 conviction for drunken driving in Plano. An arrest affidavit obtained by NBC 5 showed police conducted a traffic stop on a Mercedes Benz in March 2020. The driver, identified as Flores, allegedly sped up to 96 mph before pulling over.
According to the affidavit, he told the officer he had four glasses of wine at a friend’s house but didn’t recall how big the glasses were. The officer reportedly noticed a strong odor of alcohol and administered several field sobriety tests, concluding Flores was intoxicated. After being arrested and having blood drawn, lab results showed Flores had a blood alcohol content of 0.141, almost twice the legal limit, according to lab results obtained by NBC 5.
Flores’ blood alcohol content in Saturday’s crash is not yet available, according to Cook.
It is unclear what charges Flores will face in Dallas County.
In this tragic case, Cook also expressed frustration at the potential repeat offense and ‘missed opportunities.’ Also incomprehensible, he said, is how Flores managed to drive 38 miles from Dallas to White Settlement undetected.
“That’s scary that no one saw this car going down the freeway and called 911,” he said.
A bloodied Flores, he added, even walked inside the Jack in the Box to charge his cell phone at about 9 p.m., and no one called 911 until the female drive-thru customer did at 11:13 p.m.
It’s unlikely the victim could have been saved, but Cook said they could have tried.
Police said they will fight to get justice for the victim.
“This is somebody’s loved one, regardless of his housing situation, he was somebody’s loved one,” said Cook.
Cook said the car was leaking fluids and that may have forced Flores to stop in the parking lot. It’s not known where the Arlington resident was heading. According to Cook, Flores declined to speak further about the incident and lawyered up.
On Tuesday morning, NBC 5 learned Flores had been moved to Dallas County where he was booked into the county jail and charged with collision involving death. A bond amount has not been set and it's not clear if Flores has obtained an attorney to speak on his behalf.
