Docs: Man accused of Mass Ave hit-and-run tried reporting car damage as vandalism
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The man accused of a hit-and-run on Mass Ave that killed one and injured two others on Saturday originally called police to report the damage to his car as vandalism.
Salvador Banales, 27, of Houston, Texas, was taken into custody for the incident by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department at the Indianapolis airport on Saturday afternoon.
Around 2 a.m. Saturday, IMPD officers were dispatched to the intersection of Massachusetts and College avenues on a report of a hit-and-run involving three people. The victims were rushed to a hospital for treatment.
One victim, identified as 27-year-old Brandon Breedlove, was originally reported to be in critical condition, but died due to his injuries.
A probable cause affidavit obtained by News 8 says security footage from a nearby restaurant showed a 2020 – 2022 red Mustang traveling southbound on College Avenue with a high rate of speed. He then struck the three people with the front passenger side of the vehicle, then continued driving down the street without stopping.
Investigators at the scene later found a passenger-side rearview mirror belonging to the Mustang.
Around 11 a.m. Saturday, an IMPD officer responded to a vandalism to a vehicle incident at the Courtyard Marriot at 2601 Fortune Circle Dr. E. That’s a hotel just east of the airport on the west side.
When the officer arrived, he was met by Banales, who said his rental vehicle, a 2022 red Mustang, had possibly been sideswiped or vandalized while he was out the night before.
Banales also told the officer that he needed a police report for his insurance company since he was returning the rental vehicle before his flight back to Texas later in the day.
Court documents say that when the officer began to write up the vandalism report a few hours later, he noticed how close the bar Banales said his vehicle was vandalized at was to the scene of the hit-and-run. He also “believed the vehicle looked severely damaged for what Banales had described.”
After speaking with detectives on the hit-and-run case, they confirmed Banales as a suspect. They contacted airport authorities, as well as the rental company.
Officers then took Banales into custody as he was trying to board his flight back to Texas.
When investigators looked at the Mustang, they “observed damage consistent with striking a pedestrian and observed the passenger side rearview mirror to be having by a candle with a fractured base.” They also found “human tissue and blood” on the front quarter panel, bumper, and windshield.
Banales spoke with investigators around 3 p.m. Saturday, stating he’d been in town for a work convention that ended Friday. After the convention, court documents say Banales went to the Livery Restaurant on College Avenue, then to a bar on Dorman Street where he drank three Miller High Lifes.
Banales says that he left the bar around 1:30 a.m. He told police he did remember an incident happening on his way back but didn’t know the street name.
When officers asked if he hit anything, Banales said, “I did. To this point, I still don’t know. I just took off. I took off out of fear and panic.”
Banales says he didn’t call police, stating he “passed out” when he got back to the hotel. He then said that he didn’t stop after he hit the pedestrians.
“I should’ve stopped,” Banales told investigators. “I just left. I didn’t think about it. I was just scared for what I’d done. I just made some bad decisions.”
Court documents say that Banales said he didn’t drink any more alcohol when returning to the hotel. Police noted that even thirteen hours after the hit-and-run, Banales’s “breath and body odor smelled strongly of alcohol.”
Online court documents say Banales was facing charges for leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in death or serious bodily injury, causing catastrophic injury when operating a vehicle while intoxicated, leaving the scene of an accident, and false informing.
He was being held at the Marion County jail without bond.
A court date hasn’t been set.
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