BREAKING: Police arrest alleged hit-and-run driver blamed for teacher’s death

Special traffic investigators arrested and charged 24-year old Joel Velazquez with Accident Involving Death for the Thanksgiving day hit-and-run death of Amanda Weyant (Ferguson), El Paso Police said.

Velazquez was booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility with a bond of $150,000.

Friday, police identified Weyant, 28, as the pedestrian killed by the alleged hit-and-run driver.

Police said Velasquez struck and killed Weyant at 1:45 a.m. on November 22, 2018 at Mesa and Cincinnati, police said. Weyant was using a crosswalk when she was struck, police said.

The vehicle suspected of striking Weyant, a 1996 Chevrolet Cavalier, was abandoned farther east on the 1300 block of Cincinnati, police said. The vehicle had damage to its hood and a shattered windshield. Investigators dusted the vehicle for fingerprints.

A longtime family friend of Weyant told ABC-7 Weyant was a sixth grade teacher at Eastwood Heights Elementary. The Ysleta Independent School District confirmed Weymant had been with the district five years.

A district spokesperson said grief counselors will be on site at Eastwood Heights to help students, faculty and staff cope with the tragic death.