Hit and run investigation hits twist

December 4, 2008

Search for driver in postal carrier’s death nets immigration holds

By Britney Glaser

Special to the Daily Sun



LAKE CHARLES, LA (KPLC-TV) — The search for a man wanted in a fatal hit-and-run accident that killed a Corsicana postal worker in June has landed 29 alleged illegal workers in hot water this week with U.S. Border Patrol agents in Lake Charles, La.

The suspect being sought was 25-year-old Daniel Gonzalez Rodriguez. U.S. Postal inspectors say on June 22, 2008 Gonzalez Rodriguez ran a red light in Corsicana, hitting mail carrier Donnie Evett’s truck and then fled the scene. Evett died, and Gonzalez Rodriguez has been on the run for the past six months.

Postal authorities offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension of Gonzalez Rodriguez following the accident, distributing flyers throughout Navarro County in an effort to locate the man suspected of driving the truck that struck Evett’s mail delivery van.

Federal agents had reason to believe he was working a construction job in Lake Charles, but when officials arrived at the scene, this story took a surprising twist.

The search for a Gonzalez Rodriguez brought state police to a Lake Charles construction site Wednesday. Sgt. Stephen Lafargue with Louisiana State Police Troop D says, “We were contacted by the Texas Rangers in reference to a felony hit and run that had taken place where a U.S. Postal worker was killed and they thought that they had a suspect in this area that was working construction.â€