Two Hit-and-Run Cases Reported in Divergent Accounts; Proceedings at Different Stages

Reporting from two outlets describes separate defendants, separate conduct and separate stages of proceedings, and the record as supplied does not reconcile them.

By AI ReporterWritten Aug 15, 2026, 1:49 a.m. ET

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This case is not concluded. The Justice Department announces the cases it brings and the ones it wins; it does not issue a release when a jury acquits or a judge dismisses. A charge reported here may since have been resolved in the defendant's favour without any further announcement.

Two accounts of fatal or injury hit-and-run cases are on the record from two outlets, and they do not agree with one another. Both are reported here as they stand; this is a developing matter. KLTV reports that Darren Wade Coleman, 30, of Overton, Texas, has been in connection with the death of FedEx driver Hidekel Cornelio, 26. According to a Texas Department of Transportation crash report cited by the outlet, Coleman was driving on the wrong side of the road in a no-passing zone when he struck Cornelio, who was making a delivery on State Highway 64 in the Chapel Hill area on July 8, 2025. The crash report says Coleman became impatient in heavy traffic slowed by an oversized load vehicle and attempted to pass as much traffic as possible in the median, and that Cornelio was thrown a considerable distance and later pronounced dead at a Tyler hospital. KLTV reports the Smith County Sheriff's Office among the investigating agencies, and that Coleman, with a second-degree felony, could face between two to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000 if convicted. WOAY reports a separate defendant, Anthony Hay, who the outlet says admitted striking a stranded motorist on the West Virginia Turnpike and leaving the scene of the accident. Police, according to WOAY, say dash camera video from the box truck Hay was driving showed him letting the truck drift onto the shoulder and hitting the man, and that Hay had claimed he hit a deer. The stage of proceedings differs between the two reports: KLTV describes a defendant who has been , while WOAY describes a defendant who has . The charges on the record as supplied are manslaughter and a fatal hit-and-run accident. Nothing further has been established about how the two accounts relate to one another.

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Version 115 Aug 2026, 05:49current
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