Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A Port Neches man who allegedly struck another man man taking out trash then fled the scene was indicted this week by a Jefferson County grand jury.

Andrew Christopher Barnett, 35, reportedly told police fell asleep at the wheel April 14 while driving a Ford F-250 truck. During this time he said he struck a mailbox, which caused him to wake up and correct his truck. According to the probable cause affidavit Barnett said he looked in the mirror and saw debris but continued and went home.

Port Neches police responded at approximately 6:12 p.m. to the 2200 block of Earle Street in reference to a hit and run accident.

When police arrived they found a man with a “mangled left leg” lying on the grass. Other items around the man included a desk made of particleboard and household trash.

The man was unable to communicate due to his injuries. It was later learned the victim suffered fractures of his left femur and lower leg, multiple fractures of his jaw and several teeth knocked out.

Police were able to locate video from a neighboring business that showed a white truck, possibly a F-250, turn just prior to the 911 calls being made.

Later that night, an officer found a truck matching the vehicle description in the 1900 block of Port Neches Avenue. During the traffic stop, the driver, identified as Barnett, was reportedly nervous to the point of his hands shaking. A second officer arrived at the scene and said he believed the truck was the same one involved in the Earle Street crash. A check of the truck revealed items stuck such as trash and particleboard where the tow hook is on the front bumper of the truck.

Also noted was a damaged grill and hood of the vehicle, the document read.

Barnett was brought to the police department to speak with investigators where he reportedly waived his Miranda Rights and admitted he had been driving the truck when the crash occurred.

On April 16, a captain with the department went to the scene on Earle Street and found a chrome piece of grill near he grassy area of the neighbor’s near some debris. The piece matched the missing piece of grill from Barnett’s truck.

Barnett was arrested on a charge of collision involving serious bodily injury. Bond was set at $25,000 and he bonded out the same day, according to information from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.