AUSTIN, Texas - A 52-year-old woman has been charged with a third-degree felony after striking a cyclist with her car in South Austin.
According to the arrest affidavit, a University of Texas at Austin police officer was traveling westbound on W SH 71 around 9:59 p.m. on August 22, 2022. The officer noticed a vehicle in front of him unable to stay within a single lane of traffic. The officer turned his dash camera on, and just as the officer began recording, the vehicle in front of him veered out of the lane, striking a male on a bicycle.
The officer and an uninvolved vehicle stopped to render aid to the cyclist. The affidavit states the cyclist was "bleeding in the middle of the state highway."
The responding officer says the vehicle that hit the cyclist, a gray Nissan, continued driving away from the scene. The cyclist was promptly transported to a hospital.
Medical staff advised the UTPD officer that the cyclist suffered a "displaced closed right ankle fracture that will require surgery."
Austin Police Department officers were dispatched to the residential address of the suspected driver of the Nissan. Officers were able to locate the vehicle and the registered owner upon arrival to the residence, according to the affidavit.
The owner was identified as Lisabeth Flores. Flores admitted to officers she had been drinking after work, and that she "should not have been drinking as much as she was drinking," the affidavit adds.
Flores believed she was hit by a truck, and did not recall striking the cyclist.
Flores is facing multiple charges, including Failure to Stop and Render Aid and Intoxication Assault with Vehicle SBI.