Police will charge a South Carolina man next week with criminal homicide in the vehicle death of his girlfriend, Lackawanna County District Attorney Brian Gallagher said Friday.
Police have already charged Joseph Garcia, 18, of Sumter, South Carolina, with aggravated assault in the death of Rose Hernandez, 18, of 1131 W. Locust St.
Hernandez died as she tried to get in Garcia’s car and he sped away Monday afternoon on Roundwoods Place, an alley behind her home, police said.
Hernandez 'wanted to leave with him'
Garcia and Hernandez argued mid-afternoon Monday “because she wanted to leave with him” but he didn’t have enough room for her in his black 2014 Chevrolet Camaro, city detectives Michael Schultz and Jill Foley wrote in an arrest affidavit.
They went back into her home, but when he tried to leave again, Hernandez followed him out to the car.
“Garcia said he pulled away and Hernandez tried to grab the passenger door as he accelerated,” Schultz and Foley wrote in the affidavit. “Garcia said he stopped at the top of the alley.”
When he stopped, Garcia told police, “Hernandez hit the back of another vehicle.”
Police: Garcia left, but came back
Garcia saw Hernandez on the ground, drove “around the block and came back.”
Garcia told police he lifted Hernandez off the road “and took her to his vehicle.”
“He went into Hernandez’s house and lied to the family and said Hernandez was injured because she fell out of his vehicle,” the detectives wrote.
'Tire marks on her clothing'
Dispatched about 3:40 p.m., police found Hernandez lying in the alley bleeding from her head and face.
“There was a large amount of blood on the pavement,” the affidavit says. “The female had injuries consistent with being struck by a motor vehicle. She had tire marks on her clothing.”
They also found Garcia covered in blood and a lot of blood on the car’s hood and its driver’s side window and door. The front bumper had damage “that caused it to fold inward,” according to the affidavit, though the affidavit doesn’t say that was from the car hitting Hernandez.
She grabbed at the car door
Surveillance video shows “a physical altercation” between Garcia and Hernandez outside the car.
“She appears to be attempting to grab the passenger side door area of the vehicle,” the affidavit says. “The vehicle ... then speeds away, driven by Garcia, going westbound in Roundwoods Place and the victim is no longer seen.”
The video shows Garcia trying to pick up Hernandez and carry her to his car.
An autopsy Tuesday showed Hernandez died of blunt head trauma, County Coroner Tim Rowland said. He has not ruled on the manner of death.
Garcia remains held without bail in the Lackawanna County Prison. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for 10:45 a.m. on Jan. 12, his 19th birthday.
