Driver cops 5th DWI charge after pedestrian struck and killed
Ronnie Isbel is charged with felony murder. Prosecutors say on Thursday morning Isbel ran a stop sign going at least 35 miles per hour.
Court records say he hit and killed Robert Newton, who was crossing the street at a crosswalk.
“Knocking him numerous feet off the roadway and then continued on. Continued on for a number of minutes, going to two separate places before we were able to apprehend him,” said Sean Teare, chief of the Harris County District Attorney’s Vehicular Crimes Unit.
The crash was devastating for Newton’s loved ones.
“One of the nicest guys you’d ever met,” said Patrick Seal, a longtime friend of Newton’s.
Teare says Isbel left the scene of the crash on Freeport Street in the Cloverleaf area. He was quickly found and arrested.
Investigators found a bottle of hydrocodone on him and say he admitted to using drugs.
Isbel didn’t appear in probable cause court late Thursday night, because he was too combative.
This isn’t Isbel’s first DWI.
In fact, it’s not his second or third. It’s his fifth DWI. Prosecutors say he’s had four DWIs in Texas and one out of state.
“We have so many people who don’t understand that driving while intoxicated is not just getting drunk and getting behind the wheel. Driving while intoxicated is taking too many of your pills, too many of your prescription pills and getting behind the wheel,” said Teare.
The news is devastating for those who knew Newton.
“Angry, shocked. I can’t believe that it happened to somebody like Robert,” said Seal.
