Hieu Doan, a 2018 UTD graduate, was killed in a crash Sunday morning. Photo courtesy of Ola Babatunde.
Two UTD alumni were killed
Sunday morning in a hit-and-run on the Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway that killed
one and injured two others.
According to the Dallas Police
Department, Hieu Minh Doan, Christopher Pham and David Nguyen had stopped on Interstate
635 to change a flat tire on their Toyota vehicle early Sunday morning when they
were struck by a pickup truck, killing the three. The two occupants inside the Toyota
were injured and hospitalized. Both Doan and Pham attended UTD. Doan graduated
in 2018.
Dallas PD officials said they
were able to identify 32-year-old Jesus Chavarria-Vasquez as the suspect by
speaking to his teenage son, whom police said Chavarria-Vasquez abandoned at
the crash scene while fleeing on foot.
Psychology senior Ia Echiverri
had known Doan since they met in high school and said she had trouble believing
the news.
“In my head, I just didn’t
believe it and I kept thinking, ‘Was I hearing the name right? Is it the same
Hieu that I’m thinking it is?’” Echiverri said. “I honestly didn’t even know
what to think.”
Friends launched Facebook
fundraisers for Doan, Pham and Nguyen, each of which has since raised over
$15,000.
Ola Babatunde, a computer science
junior, said he met Doan around 2013 and had spoken to Doan two days before his
death.
“Hieu impacted a lot of
people,” Babatunde said. “(He was) a little quirky. He always gave off a
certain type of energy that anytime I was with him, I was having a good time.
He’s a really positive person.”
Babatunde said he wants to see
justice for the deaths and injuries.
“At first I was very mad,
since I think it was very cowardly for (the suspect) to leave the scene like
that, especially leaving his…son in the passenger seat,” Babatunde said. “I’m
not mad at him — I just want him to serve the justice that he deserves since he
made an impact (on) the three victims plus the other lives that can’t be
fixed.”