Durham County sheriff’s deputies stopped by the parking lot of a cancer screening center just before midnight in July, where they were reviewing a report of a person being hit by a car.
They saw paramedics performing chest compressions on Oscar Santos as blood pooled beneath him. According to a search warrant obtained five days after the June 13 incident, several potential witnesses, including Santos’ brother, were in the parking lot, covered in blood and looping tire tracks.
No one at the scene explained what happened to 22-year-old Santos, who was rushed by officials to Duke University Hospital, where he died, according to a warrant from sheriff’s Detective J. Tran.
After Santos’ mother arrived at the hospital, she grabbed a gun in an attempt to commit suicide, the warrant said.
On Tuesday, the Durham County Sheriff’s Office announced that a 16-year-old has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death that deputies say occurred during a car rally.
The search warrant indicates the juvenile is Santos’ younger brother.
Lots of witnesses, no explanation
After detectives arrived at the parking lot outside the Grail Company in Research Triangle Park, they spoke to people they believed had gathered for a rally, events in which drivers perform stunts in cars, SUVs and motorcycles and sometimes take over busy intersections.
People there told investigators they did not see the incident but heard a loud noise before several cars drove away, the warrant said. No one provided a plausible explanation, including Santos’ younger brother, before he was rushed to the hospital to check on his brother, the warrant said.
Detectives collected pieces of scattered plastic and other debris in the parking lot, marked with Santos’ blood and tire tracks — which are often left behind by car rally drivers circling at high speeds in front of crowds of people.
In recent years, car rallies have increased after promotion on social media and other places, the warrant said.
This can involve situations where dozens of vehicles and SUVs take over busy intersections, speed through traffic and perform stunts.
Investigation leads to brother
Detectives used Google Lens to match a piece of car debris with a plastic side mirror cover from a Chevy Trailblazer, a small SUV.
After news reports about the death and its relationship to a car rally, police received information and videos from anonymous sources, the warrant said.
One video showed a gray Trailblazer going in circles leaning on two left tires before falling back onto all four. In the video, the vehicle disappeared from view as a crowd sprinted toward Santos’ body, the warrant said.
The source who provided the video said Santos’ brother was driving the vehicle, lost control and ran over his brother in an accident.
Another source told investigators that Santos’ younger brother was driving and hanging out the window to record the stunt, the warrant said. The younger brother lost control of the Trailblazer, threw Oscar outside and then ran over him, the source said, according to the warrant.
The SUV was towed to Benson, where the brother lives, and stored under a tarp, the source told investigators, according to the search warrant.
Detectives contacted the Benson Police Department, who located the vehicle shortly thereafter.
During the search on July 19, officers seized the left side mirror, the warrant said.
This is a developing story that will be updated throughout the afternoon.
