A 63-year-old man was fatally struck by a vehicle while walking near Abrams Road in Northeast Dallas Friday night in what police suspect was a DWI incident.
The alleged driver of the white 2019 Chevy Camaro that hit Howard Graham in front of an apartment complex was Kyli Phillips.
“I got up and opened my patio door. Looked out, and there was a body in the road,” explained Kimberly Polen, who lives in a nearby apartment, according to Fox 4 KDFW. “And it was obvious he was gone.”
Staff at Benny’s Convenience Store, located across the street from The Hive Apartments, told Fox 4 that Graham had visited the business prior to the accident.
Police reported that Graham, homebound, had not used a crosswalk while attempting to cross the street, according to WFAA.
At the scene of the crash, Phillips, 26, was seen “clutching an alcoholic beverage in a can,” as described by a witness to Fox 4.
An arrest warrant relates how investigators noted Phillips had bloodshot eyes and smelled of alcohol. She refused to take a field sobriety test and to say whether or not she had been drinking, pleading the Fifth Amendment.
The suspect had been alone in the car at the time of the accident, apart from a dog, and claimed to have been coming home from her job in Plano.
Phillips was arrested at the scene and is currently in custody on a DWI charge, with a bond set at $75,000.
She has two prior convictions for DWI, one in Van Zandt County in 2018 and another in Southlake in 2022. She was held for eight days in the first conviction and 180 days in the second.
In Texas, an intoxicated person causing the death of another can be charged with intoxication manslaughter, which is a second-degree felony that can carry two to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $10,000.
The recent alleged DWI incident occurred in District 9, which is represented by Council Member Paula Blackmon.
Earlier this month, the district was also the site of an attempted vehicle burglary that ended with the shooting of the car’s owner, 60-year-old Jesse Simmons, as previously reported in The Dallas Express. When Simmons interrupted the burglary, the suspect shot him, causing injuries that left him paralyzed below the knees.
Auto thefts have comprised nearly 17% of all crime offenses logged so far this year by the Dallas Police Department, according to the City of Dallas crime overview dashboard. The numbers are up over 35% from the year before, rising from 8,807 to 11,899 as of August 29.
Rising rates of crime in Dallas may be associated with a shortage of police officers. DPD currently employs about 3,100 officers, yet a City report estimated that there should be three police officers for every 1,000 residents in Dallas, indicating there should be roughly 4,000 officers to effectively manage crime in the city.
The lack of officers is especially felt in Downtown Dallas, where the crime rate is significantly higher than in downtown Fort Worth, which reportedly has a special unit dedicated to managing crime in the area.