LAWRENCE - A 9-year-old boy who was seeking an apology from the man who struck him with a car and then drove away may be getting that apology soon.
Police yesterday said that an 18-year-old Lawrence man has admitted to striking Diego Diaz while the boy was riding a bicycle on Bellevue Street last Sunday.
According to Diego, the driver got out of the car, looked at him , then got back in the vehicle and drove away.
Diego had gotten up, but then collapsed on the pavement wCarilith a badly bruised right foot after the man left the scene.
The suspect, Luis Jimenez of 55 Osgood St., told police the boy had cut across the street on the bike before he hit him. He said he had contemplated turning himself in, but he thought the "situation had got too serious and was extremely scared he would be arrested," according to the police report released last night.
Police Chief John Romero said police will be in Lawrence District Court today seeking a criminal complaint against Jimenez on charges of leaving the scene of an accident causing personal injury.
Romero said Jimenez was interviewed after an anonymous caller tipped off Salem, N.H., police Officer Michael White on Wednesday about who owned the vehicle that struck Diego. That was the same day The Eagle-Tribune published a front page story about the accident. "He crashed into me and didn't say sorry or anything," Diego said.
Romero said Lawrence detectives, with the help of Officer White, located a 2000 gray Nissan Maxima in the driveway of 55 Osgood St., on Wednesday and that records showed it was owned by Ramon Polanco of 352 Ames St., Lawrence.
Yesterday, White received another anonymous call that the same car was parked outside the Home Depot in Methuen. Police said the vehicle has a scratch and a "pink paint transfer" on the front bumper. The paint was the same color as the bike Diego was riding.
While police were checking out the car, a woman, later identified as Carolina Tejeda of 55 Osgood St., came out of the store and told police that her boyfriend, Jimenez, had told her Sunday night that "he had just struck a boy on a bicycle."
Police said Jimenez was interviewed later at the police station, during which he was read his rights, and said he "recognized" Diego from the newspaper article as the boy he hit. According to the police report, Jimenez said he was leaving a cookout and going to pick up a friend when he observed two children on bikes on the side of the road. He said one of the children "cut across the street" and that he went into a skid as he tried to stop.
"He thought he hit the child with the front bumper. The child then fell off his bike and onto the hood. The child then got up and started to walk away," according to the police report's account of the interview with Jimenez. According to the police report, Jimenez told them he got out of the car to check on the boy's "well being," but that he became frightened when the crowd on the street got bigger.
He said he immediately called his girlfriend, who he said encouraged him to go back to the scene, but that he did not turn himself in because he was afraid he would be arrested.
Romero said the car has been impounded.
As for Diego, yesterday was the first day he went back to school since the accident.
His father, Emmanuel Diaz, said last night he was happy that his son did not receive any major injuries, but still glad someone called police about the driver and he appreciated the diligent work of the detectives.
Diaz said the suspect is a "very young person, maybe not experienced in what he was doing" and hopes that he will "learn from this experience."
"We just wanted to know who had done this," Diaz said.
