CHELSEA, Mass. — A driver charged with hitting and killing a man over the summer is in custody after prosecutors say he tried to escape the charges.
Police arrested that suspect in Texas and he faced a judge in Chelsea on Monday.
Two days after the driver allegedly hit and killed that 25-year-old victim, police say he hopped on a plane to his native country of El Salvador. And when he came back to the U.S. last month, investigators say the suspect headed to Texas, still trying to duck police.
“For months, Mr. Salguero-Cruz’ family was left to wait and wonder whether anyone would ever answer for his death,” Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.
It was a long journey to this moment for police tracking Jose Arevalo. Investigators had been searching for the Everett man since June, when prosecutors say Arevalo hit and killed a pedestrian in Chelsea.
“I suggest that there's no real evidence that my client was even in an accident,” Arevalo’s attorney, Scott Gediman, said.
But police say surveillance images of Arevalo's silver Camry, captured on security cameras, show his car in the moments before and after he hit 25-year-old Marco Salguero Cruz.
Other video, from a Mexican restaurant, shows Arevalo drinking at a restaurant bar for two and a half hours before the accident, according to police.
Arevalo's attorney told the judge those images don't prove it was Arevalo who hit Cruz.
“At this point, there's no identification of a license plate, a vehicle, anything,” Gediman said.
Police say two days after the accident, Arevalo fled the country, traveling first to El Salvador and then coming back to the U.S. and driving to Texas.
His attorney says the travel was to help sick relatives and that Arevalo was always anxious to cooperate with investigators.
“There are innocent explanations for everything,” Gediman said.