SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police have identified a woman who was fatally struck at a VIA bus stop and a teen driver who allegedly fled the scene.
SAPD said Melanie Mariah Gaiton, 18, has been charged with intoxication manslaughter and failure to stop and render aid resulting in death.
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She is accused of fatally striking Monique Rodriquez, 29, just before 7 a.m. on Thursday as Rodriguez sat at a VIA bus stop bench in the 800 block of Culebra Road on the West Side.
According to SAPD, Gaiton was driving a black Chevrolet sedan at a high rate of speed eastbound on Culebra Road when she tried to pass a car by traveling in the center turn lane.
For an unknown reason, police said, she drove onto the westbound lanes of Culebra Road, struck a curb, and drove up on the sidewalk near Navidad Street and Culebra Avenue.
That’s when she struck the woman and continued to drive eastbound on the sidewalk, striking multiple signs and other objects, police said. She stopped the vehicle after it struck a fence.
Gaiton left the scene along with her boyfriend, who was a passenger, police said. They were caught a few blocks away.
She was evaluated for signs of intoxication and later booked into the Bexar County Jail before 9 a.m. Her bond is set at $180,000.
Her boyfriend, who has not been identified, was charged with unlawful carrying of a weapon and possession, police said.
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