Area man charged in Kyle hit-and-run

By LPR Staff
Editor/POST-REGISTER

A Lockhart man was arrested and placed in the Hays County Jail last weekend after a fatal car accident left a 16-year-old Tyler girl dead on Sunday morning.
Ranulfo Torres-Padron, 43, was taken into custody on Sunday after an interview with Hays County deputies revealed his involvement with the hit-and-run death of Summe

r Kline, 16 in rural Hays County between midnight and 3 a.m. on Sunday. Kline, who had been visiting with a friend, was walking to her aunt”s home, where she was visiting for the summer, when she was hit.
Kline”s aunt called in a report that she was missing and possibly kidnapped after several attempts to contact her failed. After calling the friend and learning he hadn”t spoken to Kline since around 12:30 a.m., the aunt, Christine Bell, opted to call the Sheriff”s Office. During the investigation, authorities located Kline”s body, and later found a wrecked, unoccupied Ford Tempo nearby. According to the Affidavit of Probable Cause for Arrest Warrant filed by Detective Teddy Grabarkewitz, debris matching the vehicle was found in the same area as Kline”s body.
Investigators found the vehicle to be registered to a Jose Jaimes, with a residence on State Park Road in Lockhart.
When deputies approached the address listed on the vehicle registration, they were told the Tempo actually belonged to Lydia Jaimes, who said she had loaned the car to her boyfriend “Moises Torres.” She said she did not know whether the vehicle had been stolen from him.
When first interviewed by deputies, Torres-Padron [referred to as “Torres” in the affidavit] claimed that he had been drinking the night before, approximately two six-packs of beer, and that the car had been stolen from him. Later, he admitted that he had gone to a store on High Road to find it closed, turned around on Goforth Road, lost control of the car and crashed into a fence. He left the vehicle and called Jaimes to pick him up, he said.
He then stated he had hit what he believed to be an animal before crashing and abandoning the car. Torres-Padron was placed under arrest and transported to Hays County Jail, where his bond was set at $500,000. Torres-Padron faces a charge of Manslaughter, which could carry a sentence of two – 20 years in prison, should he be convicted.
According to representatives from the Hays County Sheriff”s Department, investigation into the accident is ongoing.