HOUSTON — A man charged with murder in the hit-and-run death of a 6-year-old boy probably won't be getting out of jail anytime soon.
On Tuesday, a Harris County judge raised the bond of Pedro Alberto Hernandez to nearly a million dollars -- $850,000 for the murder charge and $100,000 for DWI.
Prosecutors asked for a higher bond because Hernandez has a history of driving drunk with three DWIs in three counties since 2015.
Court-appointed defense attorney Daniel Werlinger said Hernandez is indigent so there's no way he can afford those bonds. He plans to ask the judge to lower them at a future hearing.
Werlinger said he's also concerned about how his client got a black eye.
“My understanding was it was a very chaotic scene out there and we definitely will be looking into that and seeing exactly what happened out there.”
What happened
The little boy was struck and killed on Saturday, Oct. 1, in front of a laundromat off Leawood Boulevard and Bissonnet Street. According to Houston police, the boy was with his family on their way to a store when the suspect hit him in a parking lot.
A witness described the awful scene.
“Basically, he ran over the boy and the grandfather, out of panic, kept saying 'My grandson, my grandson.' The driver wasn’t in his senses, so he backed up on him again, he ran over him once and back onto him,” the man told us.
According to court documents, Hernandez ran over the child three times. One of the times, he's accused of stopping the car while a wheel was on the boy's face.
Hernandez admitted to drinking four, 16-ounce beers before the incident, according to court records.
History of drunk driving
Hernandez is on probation for a DWI in Fort Bend County, according to prosecutors. Assistant DA Erandi Marquez said she expects that probation to be revoked.
The suspect also has convictions in Harris County and a third unidentified county.
If convicted of the little boy's death, Hernandez could face life in prison.