The emergence of new evidence led police to change their original assessment that the hit-and-run was intentional, said Maj. Brian Greene, acting chief of the Lincolnton Police Department.
Daniel Gonzalez, 68, turned himself in to police a day after he allegedly drove his black SUV toward workers, injuring six of them, while trying to park outside a Lincolnton Walmart. Family members who accompanied Gonzalez to the police department told detectives that he accidentally stepped on the accelerator and fled the scene in a panic.
“Based on the statements and after consulting with the district attorney’s office, we are treating this as an accident,” Greene said Tuesday. “People are still injured and he fled the scene, so he was charged with felony leaving the scene of an accident” and was set on $50,000 bail.
The victims received medical attention at a local hospital for their injuries and were released Sunday night, Greene said. Police identified them as Jorge A. López, Zalapa M. Hermosillo, José L. Calderón, Luis D. Alcantar, Rodrigo M. Gutiérrez Tapia, and Santiago Baltazar. The men were waiting to board a bus that transports them to and from their workplace at Knob Creek Orchard in Lawndale.
