Arlington convicted hit-and-run-driver freed on bond

A convicted hit-and-run driver who was arrested before he could take off on an international flight is free on $300,000 bond.

Judge Mollee Westfall approved the bond on Omar Bashir Mohammed on Friday. Mohammad was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison after striking a pedestrian with his vehicle in Arlington and not stopping to help the man.

Mohammed hit Terence Pinkston, 74, on a sidewalk on the 2400 block of Ascension Boulevard in February 2014. The collision sent Pinkston headfirst into a fence post. His injuries required a weeklong hospital stay and weeks in a rehabilitation facility.

In March, a jury sentenced Mohammad to five years in prison for failing to stop and help Pinkston.

Mohammed’s attorney, Jim Shaw, filed for the bond while they work to appeal the conviction.

“The law says that he’s entitled to a bond and the court has systematically denied him a bond until we had a hearing on Thursday,” Shaw said.

Heather Davenport, Tarrant County assistant district attorney and a prosecutor in the case, said she argued to hold Mohammed without bond while he appealed the decision.

“It was a decision that we did not agree with,” Davenport said. “We thought the evidence was clear he was a flight risk.”

Mohammed was arrested at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport where he had boarded a plane destined for his native Jordan. The plane had left the gate but returned when authorities determined he was on board.

“The only thing significant about it was that he was on a plane to go to Jordan and he had a total right to do that,” Shaw said.

Shaw said Mohammed would be released Monday. He will be fitted with a GPS device.

Davenport said prosecutors cannot appeal the decision to allow Mohammed free on bond.

In addition to prison time, the jury sentenced Mohammed to six years’ probation on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury and injury to the elderly.

Calls to Westfall’s office were not answered.

This story was originally published October 10, 2015 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Arlington convicted hit-and-run-driver freed on bond."