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Crime

Woman Charged with Vehicular Homicide Says She Thought She Hit an Animal

Desirea Garrera is charged with vehicular homicide while under the influence after fatally striking a pedestrian and fleeing the scene

By Maggie Dresser

A 25-year-old New York woman who fatally struck a pedestrian with her vehicle in the early morning of July 23 on East Idaho Street and fled the scene told Kalispell Police Department (KPD) officers that she thought she might have hit an animal at the time of the incident, according to charging documents.

Desirea Garrera was charged with a felony count of vehicular homicide while under the influence in Flathead County District Court. She was booked in the Flathead County Detention Center on the same day of the incident. Her bond is set at $100,000.

According to court documents, law enforcement was dispatched to a report of a pedestrian who was struck by a vehicle at 3:09 a.m. near 801 East Idaho Street in Kalispell where officers found a deceased male on the ground, who was later identified as Lawrence Joseph Souza Jr.

Souza’s companion told officers they were walking westbound on East Idaho Street when he heard a vehicle traveling at a “high rate of speed” behind them before Souza was struck, records state. The vehicle continued driving westbound, he said.

Officers traced Garrera’s vehicle to Logan Health following a call from hospital staff at 3:43 a.m. Law enforcement arrived to find damage to her Jeep Cherokee.

Garrera, who was the sole occupant of the vehicle, told officers she was there because she had driven a friend, who was having a medical emergency, to the hospital and that she might have hit an animal before that. Law enforcement observed signs of intoxication while speaking with her, records state. After refusing to provide a blood sample, officers were granted a search warrant.

Garrera is scheduled to appear before Judge Dan Wilson for an arraignment hearing on Aug. 18 at 1:30 p.m. She faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in the Montana State Prison.