A Central Texas man was arrested on a warrant at his home in Copperas Cove late Friday afternoon in connection with a deadly hit-and-run crash that killed a local teenager in 2016.
Richard Anthony Salinas, 36, was arraigned Saturday morning for failing to stop and render aid after a crash involving injury. Justice of the Peace Bill Cooke set his bond at one million dollars.
Harker Heights Police captured Salinas around 4:40 p.m. Friday after getting the Bell County District Attorney's Office to agree there was probable cause to believe he hit 16-year-old Killeen High School student Parker James Leporin-Vazquez in the 600 block of East Central Texas Expressway in Harker Heights on August 19, 2016. Parker was transported to Baylor Scott & White Hospital in Temple, where he died of his injuries.
"During the early stages of the investigation, only sketchy details were available regarding the descriptions of the suspect vehicle and the driver," Harker Heights Police Sgt. Steve Miller explained in a statement. "Sometime later, and due to the astute observations of an off-duty Harker Heights Police Officer, the suspected vehicle and driver were identified and the forensic investigation was allowed to continue."
Salinas was booked into the Bell County Jail just after 11 a.m., according to online jail records.
A GoFundMe page described Parker as having big dreams and a love for sports and music. He was a youth coach for the Killeen Trojans before his life was cut short, according to his obituary.
