TYLER, Texas — A Tyler woman accused of striking and killing a pedestrian with her vehicle in February told her co-workers that she struck someone while driving, police documents show.
Chatiryn Akerra Butler, 18, turned herself into authorities on Monday on an accident involving death charge in connection with the wreck that killed Kelsey Hise, 30, of Tyler, on Feb. 19.
She was booked into the Smith County Jail and released the same day on a $100,000 bond.
Hise was found lying in the roadway with major injuries. Police found pieces from the vehicle that struck her lying nearby. The collision happened around 7:30 p.m. in the 1200 block of North Broadway Avenue. Hise later died from her injuries at a hospital.
According to an arrest affidavit, Butler told multiple co-workers and customers that she believed she struck and killed Hise while driving her vehicle on Feb. 19.
One of her co-workers told Butler that Hise died in the hit-and-run, and the employee said Butler responded by saying "she thought it was a man that she had hit, and she didn't know they had died," according to the affidavit.
A co-worker told police that she was surprised by Butler's demeanor because she wasn't "distraught and did not seem remorseful." Butler disregarded a suggestion that she should report the crash to police, the affidavit read.
Through a search warrant, police located Butler's Camry and determined that the mirror left at the scene matched the spot where Butler's missing driver's side mirror would have been, the affidavit stated. Police also found red hairs from the car's back driver's side fender well.
Another one of Butler's workers said Butler spoke about hitting a person with her vehicle because Butler was "stressed and devastated." Based on what Butler told her, the co-worker believed the wreck was an accident, according to the police document.
