Police seeking driver in fatal hit-and-run
HOUSTON
"He was just a loving person," Arlene Herron said.
For Herron's brother, Harold Williams, age was always just a number. He never let the fact that he was 67 slow him down.
"He liked to ride his bike. He even ran marathons," she said.
About two weeks ago, Williams rode his bike to the neighborhood Walgreens. On the way home, he was hit by a champagne-colored Chevy Tahoe while crossing the intersection at Southmore and Highway 288.
"He had on all the protective gear," Herron said.
"She just turned in the front of him and just hit him."
Tena Betts was behind the SUV that hit him. She called 911, stopped to help and stayed on the phone until the ambulance arrived. She knew it was serious.
"Once I got to him, I could see he wasn't going to get up," Betts said.
The woman who hit Williams and her young daughter stayed at the scene, too. With all the attention focused on him, no one got her license plate.
"She stood there and said to everyone that was standing there, 'I have to follow the ambulance; I have to find out what hospital they are taking him to,'" Betts said.
Betts assumed she did just that, until her phone rang a few hours later. It was the police investigator. Her heart sank.
"He said she drove away. I said, 'She didn't drive away.' He goes, 'Yeah, she drove away.' I said, 'No she didn't. She followed the ambulance.' He goes, 'No ma'am, she drove away,' and I was just in immediate shock," Betts said.
On Sunday -- 13 days after the accident – Williams died in the hospital.
"I said, 'Lord have mercy, my brother, my brother.' That's all I could say" Herron said.
And the mystery woman who hit him is nowhere to be found.
"Wherever you're at or whatever you're doing, God will take care of you," Herron said.
HPD says an officer was dispatched and arrived at the scene 10 minutes after that 911 call was made. Betts told us she stayed at the scene for 45 minutes and claims she never saw a cop car.