A 19-year-old San Juan man accused of a fatal Thanksgiving hit-and-run last year pleaded not guilty Friday to an indictment charging him with accident involving death.
Manuel Canchola Ramirez is accused of hitting and killing 54-year-old Gilberto Delgado in the 1000 block of South Cage Boulevard in Pharr at about 10:14 p.m.
Two days after the fatal holiday crash, Canchola and 19-year-old San Juan resident Natalie Monique Carreon surrendered to Pharr police.
She is charged with failure to report a felony and a search of court records didn’t reflect an indictment against her.
A probable cause affidavit said another woman hit Delgado after another vehicle, purportedly driven by Canchola, hit him and fled the scene.
She stayed at the scene and cooperated with police. Another motorist in the area also told police that he saw a vehicle hit Delgado and immediately leave the location, according to the affidavit.
Investigators were able to recover surveillance video that showed the dark colored vehicle, which was later identified as a blue 2015 Nissan Altima, with extensive front-end damage. That video shows a man get out of the driver seat to fix the vehicle’s hood before taking off eastbound on Sam Houston, according to the affidavit.
Police later recovered the vehicle at a San Juan residence.
At the time of his arrest, Canchola was out on probation for three aggravated robberies stemming from two robberies on Christmas Eve in 2020 and another one on Dec. 10, 2020.
He is being held without bond on those charges, which he previously pleaded guilty to. He is scheduled to be sentenced in late March on those charges.
Carreon received a $20,000 bond and bailed out of the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Nov. 26.
