SAN ANTONIO – Police made an arrest in a hit-and-run case that claimed the life of an 81-year-old disabled man in November.
Eddie Gaston Jr. was headed home in his electric wheelchair when a car hit him on Rigsby Avenue and never stopped.
Gaston's family said they can now breathe a sigh of relief, because police arrested 41-year-old Edward Pettit in connection with the case.
“I didn't think any headway was going to come of it,” said Henry Sweat, Gaston’s nephew. “We didn't want his life and his death to be like nobody cared and he was just a throw-away person.”
Police said a woman called them after seeing a Crime Stoppers flyer with a picture of the suspect vehicle on it. According to court documents, the woman realized the car investigators were looking for belonged to her son.
The woman's son told investigators he lent his car to Pettit the night of the crash and that Pettit was in the process of picking up his wife from work when the crash happened.
“How can you live with yourself knowing that you had done that? Knowing that you had hit somebody. You had hit metal,” Sweat questioned.
Pettit is facing a charge of failure to stop and render aid, resulting in death.
“Two weeks ago, Tuesday, I visited his grave and it just dawned on me again. It just ran through my mind that an arrest had not been made, that the case is still out there," Sweat said.
Sweat said he has a message for Pettit.
“I wish no ill feelings or ill happenings to anybody -- any human being -- just God be with you,” Sweat said.