Angry crowd kills passenger in car that struck child
POSTED: 12:08 a.m. EDT, June 21, 2007
Story Highlights
• Driver hit child; group of men attacked him when he stopped to check on kid
• Passenger got out of car to help; was beaten to death by the angry crowd
• Sister found David Morales, 40, on pavement 100 feet from her townhouse
• Thousands of people were in the area for a Juneteenth celebration, police said
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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Police on Wednesday were pleading for witnesses to help them track down members of an angry mob that beat a man to death after the car he was riding in apparently struck and injured a child.
Investigators were struggling to piece together what happened when David Rivas Morales died Tuesday defending the driver from members of a crowd. There could have been anywhere from two to 20 attackers, Austin Police Commander Harold Piatt said.
The car in which Morales, 40, was a passenger had entered an apartment complex's parking lot when it struck a 2-year-old boy, Piatt said. The boy was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The driver got out of the car to check on the child and was confronted by several people, Piatt said. When they attacked the driver, Morales got out of the car to protect the driver and was attacked as well. Police said no guns or knives were used.
Originally Posted by njsue
