Strange Accident in Grand Prairie

GRAND PRAIRIE — Drenched in blood, Vincent Paul Riojas burst through the front door of his family’s east Grand Prairie home Saturday night.

Without explanation, he rushed out again, his mother later told Grand Prairie police.

Outside, next to the house, Riojas’ mother saw his 2004 Chevrolet Cavalier. It had been damaged, she told officers.

And inside, she could see a bloody man hunched over in the back seat.

"As far as she knew, her son had been involved in an altercation," Grand Prairie traffic Sgt. Eric Hansen said Monday. "After she saw the man in the back seat, she called 911. She thought the friend had been injured also."

On the way to the house, responding officers noticed a mangled blue mountain bike in front of an auto body shop in the 3400 block of East Main Street, Hansen said.

When the officers arrived at the Riojas’ home in the 400 block of Northeast 38th Street, they saw that the driver’s side of the Cavalier was crumpled and that the windshield was smashed.

Riojas’ home is less than a mile from where the mangled bike was found.

"They were able to put it together pretty fast that the vehicle had been involved in the wreck with the bike," Hansen said.

The man in the back seat was Ronnie Monroe Keller, 59, who lived in the neighborhood and rode his bike every day. He had been hit head-on by the Cavalier, police said Monday. Keller was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Police arrested Riojas, 27, who was found hiding under a parked vehicle in the area.

What happened

Police believe that Riojas was drunk as he drove home about 9 p.m. Saturday. He was eastbound in the 3400 block of East Main Street and veered into the westbound lane, where Keller was riding, on a part of Main Street that veers to the left and narrows from a four-lane street to a single lane before coming to a dead end.

Investigators think the impact sent Keller’s body into the Cavalier’s windshield. Dents on the roof suggest that he tumbled over it and into the back window, where his body partially lodged.

How Keller got from the back window into the back seat is unclear, Hansen said.

"We’re not sure if [Riojas] just pulled Keller through the window or pulled him out and put him in the back seat," Hansen said. Riojas "was covered in blood, so obviously he came into physical contact with the victim."

Because Keller had been removed from the window, officers couldn’t tell which part of his body went through it.

Police are awaiting blood-test results on Riojas.

Security video from a nearby auto repair shop shows the Cavalier hitting the bicyclist at 9:04 p.m. Saturday. Police received the call from Riojas’ mother at 9:20 p.m.

Keller was pronounced dead about 20 minutes later.

"It is our belief, with the seriousness of the injuries, emergency crews would have had a greater chance of saving him had [Riojas] called for help when the wreck happened," Hansen said.

Kristen Cranford, who lived with Keller, her uncle, just blocks from where the wreck occurred, said: "He didn’t deserve to be treated like that. My uncle was a real person."

Riojas remained in the Grand Prairie Jail Monday with bail set at $150,000. He faces charges of intoxication manslaughter, resisting arrest, and failure to stop and render aid. He was also wanted on an unrelated felony warrant.

Riojas was convicted of multiple drug charges in 2006 in Dallas County and sentenced to five years in prison. He was released in November 2007 under supervision until Aug. 2, 2010, records show.