Driver struck scooter rider, left woman bleeding in street, police say

A driver heading east on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near Alamo Street in East Austin early Saturday struck a woman on a stand-up electric scooter and left her bleeding, court documents say.

A witness told police the scooter rider laid on the ground for about four minutes before she got up, leaving a pool of blood in the road and drops of blood along the nearby sidewalk, an arrest affidavit says. The witness also described the vehicle that hit the rider as a white Kia Soul that made no attempt to stop and help and continued heading east on East MLK Jr. Boulevard, the affidavit says.

Officers responded to the intersection of East MLK Jr. and Alamo around 12:48 a.m. but found they were unable to communicate with the rider because she is deaf. She was taken to Dell Seton Medical Center with critical head injuries. At the hospital, officers were later told her injuries were no longer life-threatening.

Another officer, who was already driving west on East Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, figured they might spot the driver on the road. About 1.3 miles east of Airport Boulevard, the officer saw a white Kia Soul and made a U-turn to catch up with it. The officer said the vehicle was missing a front right passenger mirror, the affidavit says. Back at the scene of the crash, police confirmed the right front passenger mirror would be the one damaged.

The officer followed the Kia Soul into the southbound lanes of Ed Bluestein Boulevard and pulled the vehicle over into a Shell gas station in the 6100 block of Techni Center Drive.

Police identified the driver of the Kia Soul as 70-year-old Jerrell Bennett, who told officers a man had run out in front of his vehicle in the intersection of Chicon Street and East Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. He told police he tried to switch lanes, but couldn't because of another vehicle in the area, the affidavit says.

He told officers he hit his brakes but hit the person, and when he checked his rear-view mirror, he saw the man stand up, so he figured he was OK and kept driving.

Bennett, who is charged with failing to stop and render aid, was not in the Travis County Jail on Monday, according to online records.