The attorney of the man charged with hitting a 73-year-old with his car and then driving away says his client shouldn’t be deported.
Omar Mohammed is accused of fleeing the scene of a February crash that hospitalized Terry Pinkston.
Pinkston was walking near his Arlington home when he was struck from behind by a car. A good Samaritan came to Pinkston's aid and saw the driver leave the scene without stopping.
"He got scared, he didn’t know what was going to happen. He panicked," said Mohammed's attorney Jim Shaw.
This was a routine court appearance for Mohammed to make sure he hasn't violated the terms of his $250,000 bond.
Mohammed is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and failure to stop and render aid.
Days after the crash, Mohammed booked a flight home to Jordan and was sitting on the plane when federal authorities arrested him.
Mohammed's attorney, Jim Shaw, said his client wasn't fleeing the country because there was no warrant out for his arrest, so he didn’t commit a crime by trying to return home to Jordan.
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"He was leaving to go home to his home country. He did not leave a mortally wounded person behind. He fled the scene from a person who had been seriously injured, and that’s the crime. Failure to stop and render aid," Shaw said. "He left the scene of an accident."
While Shaw said his client should face consequences for driving away, he said it's not a case of aggravated assault because it wasn't an intentional act.
"He freaked out. He lost his common sense. He didn’t know what to do, and he left. And then he clearly got some bad advice from some people," Shaw said.
No trial date has been yet. Meanwhile, Mohammed must continue to wear an ankle monitor.
