A 19-year-old from Lawrenceville is accused of taking the overprotective big brother role too far.
Uziel Flores allegedly hit a coworker with his car, breaking both of his legs, because he didn’t like the way the man looked at his 17-year-old sister, according to a Gwinnett County police report.
Both men work at the Chilango Taco Bar off Cruse Road, the report said. Flores reportedly got angry at how Jose Barrios, 41, looked at his younger sister, so when Barrios left the restaurant, Flores allegedly ran him down.
Police found Barrios bleeding in the parking lot just before 4 a.m. Sunday. A man and woman in the parking lot told officers they heard a crash outside and found Barrios on the ground, but never saw a car.
Officers found Flores nine minutes later in a badly damaged car, according to the report. He told officers that a man in his mid-30s had been “creeping on his younger sister.” Police said Flores told them “the male deserved it.”
Flores wouldn’t directly state what happened next, according to the incident report. His sister, who was in the back seat of the damaged car, told police that her brother is “very protective.”
However, the suspect’s family insisted to Channel 2 Action News that the incident was an accident and that surveillance video from a nearby business would clear Flores. The video has been turned over to police but has not been made public.
“Thank God that there are cameras,” his mother said in Spanish. “It really was an accident, and I do not agree with what they are blaming him for.”
Flores faces six charges, including aggravated battery, hit-and-run resulting in serious injury, driving without a valid license and three other misdemeanors, according to jail records.
He was denied bond and remains in the Gwinnett jail.
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