Jose Franco and his grandson Jimmy Franco said they were sitting outside by their fire pit when they heard a crash at the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and Farm to Market Road 2641(Clovis Highway) on Thursday afternoon.
They said they saw the suspect, Ozzy David Roberts, 30, running away from the scene leaving behind a Denver City woman, Sandra Wells, 80, in the car he hit from running a stop sign.
Jimmy said he checked the pulse of Wells and realized she had passed away. Then Jose and Jimmy started chasing after Roberts.
“So I get in my truck and I pick up my boy over there and I catch him outside over a mile, something like that,” said Jose.
Jimmy went on to say, “[Roberts] should pay for what he did, we had to catch him, we were the only ones who saw where he went, so we took initiative.”
After Roberts was caught, Jose and Jimmy noticed the smell of alcohol from Roberts who then attempted to bribe the two men with $3,000 to $5,000 to let him go.
Jose and Jimmy returned to the crime scene with Roberts and handed him over to police. They said that officers thanked them for helping to find the suspect.
Jose and Jimmy hope that this crash is a reminder for people driving through their area to adhere to traffic laws.
As for the stop signs in the area, Jose said, “No matter what, people need to slow down, stop, and stop both ways.”
Sgt. John Gonzalez with DPS confirmed that neighbors chased Roberts down as he was running away. Gonzalez said those neighbors transported Roberts in a truck to law enforcement officers at the scene.
