A pedestrian who was hit by a car Saturday night crashed through its windshield — ending up in the passenger seat — as the driver of the car continued his journey until reaching a Jack in the Box parking lot in White Settlement.

When police were called to the scene around 11 p.m. Saturday they found the victim in the passenger seat, according to the news release. Paramedics were called to the scene, but the victim was already dead, police said.

The driver of the gray Kia Forte 31-year-old Nester Lujuan Flores, told officers he thought he’d hit an animal somewhere between Dallas and White Settlement, the news release states.

Investigators say they believe he actually hit the pedestrian somewhere between Arlington and White Settlement.

Flores was seemingly unaware that a person was dead inside his car, police said.

The victim’s name will be released after the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office has notified next-of-kin.

Police have not said if they believe Flores was impaired at the time, though a person who called 911 said the driver was slumped over the steering wheel and the car having “extensive front end, hood and windshield damage,” according to the news release.

Investigators said it appears Flores actually arrived at the Jack in the Box in the 8700 block of the Interstate 30 restaurant service road, about 8 miles west of downtown Fort Worth, sometime between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. according to the release.

One officer quickly realized that there was an apparent dead body in the passenger seat of the vehicle.

The officer got Flores out of the vehicle and detained him, according to the release. That’s when he told the officer he thought he’d hit an animal.

lee addedThe case is eerily similar to what is called the “windshield murder,” a crash on Oct. 26, 2001 in south Fort Worth in which driver Chante Mallard hit Gregory Glenn Briggs. He crashed into her windshield was stuck there, as she drove home and parked in her garage, leaving him to die hours later.

Mallard was convicted of murder in 2003 and is serving a 50-year sentence in a Texas prison. end add

Authorities in White Settlement have asked other law enforcement agencies in the area to help them determine where Saturday’s crash took place but none have had reports yet of a hit-and-run involving a pedestrian, according to the news release.

Investigators have asked police from Arlington, Fort Worth and Grand Prairie and sheriff offices in Dallas and Tarrant counties for assistance.

They believe the crash happened somewhere between Arlington and White Settlement because police cameras that read license plates picked up the car in Arlington around New York Avenue and East Mayfield Road around 6 p.m.

Flores remains in jail with charges pending, according to the news release. Anybody with information is asked to contact White Settlement police Sgt. Steven Person at investigator@wspd.us or 817-246-7070.

Court records from Collin County indicate Flores pleaded guilty in 2021 to driving while intoxicated in 2020. Court records list the sentence as “local jail,” but do say for how long.