Blood-Spattered Man Denies Being Deadly Hit-And-Run Driver

• published: 19 Mar 2015
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Blood-Spattered Man Denies Being Deadly Hit-And-Run Driver Blood-Spattered Man Denies Being Deadly Hit-And-Run Driver Blood-Spattered Man Denies Being Deadly Hit-And-Run Driver Pennsylvania police say Jose Antonio Santiago hit pedestrian Anna Lewis, 62, so hard on Sunday her body was sliced in half - the top of which lodged inside the car - but he denies responsibility. Man denies he was hit-and-run driver even though upper half of victim's severed body was found on the passenger-side floor of his crumpled vehicle Authorities say a Pennsylvania man on Sunday denied striking a woman with his car despite her the upper half of her severed body having been found on his passenger side floor. Jose Antonio Santiago, 33, is charged with causing an accident involving death or injury in the hit-and-run near Allentown after cops identified him by matching the car parts lost at the scene to those missing from his badly damaged car. State police say 62-year-old Anna Lewis was hit so hard that her body was cut in half and that the upper half of her severed torso was found in Santiago's Saab. Her sister Rosalie Carlo, 51, of Brooklyn, New York, suffered a broken wrist and other injuries in the crash, reports LeHighValley.com, after the sisters were hit while walking on the shoulder of a road in Hanover Township. Carlo and Lewis had just left a restaurant where they had dinner, when 'I saw a bright light and I felt a push,' Carlo recalled from her hospital bed Monday. 'I felt enormous pressure, like a Mack truck hit me.' The next thing she remembers, she was being roused by a passerby who told her help was on the way. Meanwhile, her sister's lower torso was among the debris left behind by the hit-and-run driver, her head and torso had presumably crashed through the driver's windshield. 'I hope he rots in hell,' she would later tell Lehighvalley.com. 'It's not right. My sister was a good woman.' Police found Santiago's heavily damaged car about 90 minutes after the crash and Santiago two hours later when he approached a state trooper at his damaged car and identified himself. Police say Santiago admitted driving a friend home from a bar that night after having a few drinks but denied hitting anyone. 'Was there a crash on Airport Rd? I had looked on WFMZ news and seen there was a hit and run accident, I didn't hit anyone. I would've stopped. I'm not a bad person,' he told them, apparently without prompting. He also told them, 'I was just bringing my friend home and it all happened so fast, but I didn't hit anyone. If I did, I would've stopped.' Left at the scene were a car's mirror, the front grill, the right headlight, a portion of a window and other parts, according to records. Police discovered Santiago's car was missing those parts. His right pant leg was also covered in red 'body matter.' Police indicated that Santiago smelled of alcohol but did not specify whether he'd been given a field sobriety test. Police did say they suspected both alcohol and speed were factors, reports WFMZ. He's been charged with a felony count of accidents involving death or personal injury, reports LeHighValley.com. He was locked up in Lehigh County jail in lieu of $275,000 bail. It remained unclear whether he'd face DUI charges. Also unclear was whether Santiago had anyone else in the car at the time he allegedly hit Lewis.