April 24, 2017
By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –
An immigrant from Mexico residing in the US for over 15-years was in Custer County District court last week to face a 1st degree manslaughter charge.
43-year-old Elisa Estella Lopez, of Weatherford, is being held without bond after allegedly hitting an 11-year-old Elk City boy on a skateboard with her pickup. The boy, Hayden Helton, died at the scene of the accident.
Lopez was bound over for trial last Tuesday in the death that occurred nearly 11 months ago.
Lopez is charged with manslaughter though she had no stop sign in front of her, was allegedly driving at 1-2 miles an hour over the posted speed limit of 25 and had made eye contact with the boy just prior to the collision.
According to the Clinton Daily News, the charge alleges that she had never obtained an Oklahoma driver’s license and was using her cell phone to place a call at the time of the accident.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the boy’s cousin who was playing with him at the time of the collision, told investigators that Helton couldn’t stop and he proceeded into the intersection.
Lopez was found to have an Oklahoma Driver’s Manual with her and had been studying to get her license, though she had taken the test previously and failed it. Lopez had a driver’s license from Mexico, was in possession of a Social Security Card and a Temporary Oklahoma I.D. Card and was in the process of immigrating. Police have indicated that Lopez has cooperated with them throughout the investigation.
The court document says witnesses told police that she exited the pickup with her cell phone in her hand and it was found afterwards on the hood of her vehicle.
She allegedly came to the US in 1999 on a tourist visa, but had never returned to Mexico nor had obtained US citizenship. Two years earlier, Lopez received a written warning from Weatherford police for not having a driver’s license.
The probable cause affidavit says Lopez was driving to her brother’s house to see if her children were there and was making a call to her brother on her cell phone at the time of the collision. Phone records show that a call was placed to her brother at 7:34 pm on the date of the incident, but it was not connected, lasting 33 seconds. She told investigators that she was either holding her phone to her ear or was holding the phone using her shoulder.
Lopez’s court case is on the felony motion docket this next Monday.
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