Manor police officer witnessed deadly crash on Highway 290
MANOR, Texas - A Manor police officer said he was able to track down the driver who caused a fatal crash on Highway 290 right in front of his eyes.
That driver has since been charged with murder.
Around 1:40 the morning of November 11, Manor police officer Shaun Harr was stopped at the light at Highway 290 and FM 973. A white 4-door sedan was stopped to his left. When the light turned green, both drivers began to move forward until Harr heard what sounded like an explosion.
"I saw just a ton of sparks, shattered glass and smoke to my left," Harr said.
Harr said a black Ford F-350 dually pickup truck collided with the white car next to him at full speed. The truck pushed the sedan into the median then kept moving.
"Shot through the median and nearly hit another vehicle head on in the westbound lanes of 290 before it came to a stop against a guardrail," said Harr.
He turned on his lights and siren and made a quick u-turn to get back to the crash scene. "By the time I turned around, which was a matter of a few seconds, and went to make contact with the Ford pickup truck, I saw that it was unoccupied. But I did hear, immediately to the north, which was a large field north of 290, I heard rustling in the bushes, in the wooded area. Sounded as if somebody was running away from that scene," Harr said.
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With nowhere else for the driver to hide, Officer Harr followed the rustling as he climbed through heavy brush.
"It sounded like that individual was no longer running, probably ducking down. And about 25 yards north of the highway, I located a white male laying on the ground and I could see his legs, I could see the bluejeans," said Harr.
Harr took 40-year-old Candelario Flores into custody. The driver of the white car was hospitalized and is alive, however, the passenger in the car is not.
First responders spent about an hour trying to save 33-year-old Noemi Calderon's life. "I was heartbroken for her family and the other individual in that car that something like that happened," Harr said.
As he learned more about the suspect, his heartbreak mixed with anger.
"To think this guy's already been arrested three times, and it gets to the point where now he's driving drunk a fourth time, and it resulted in someone losing their life over something that could've been prevented... It's frustrating," said Harr.