UNT football player arrested in hit-and-run case

A University of North Texas football player turned himself in Friday to Denton police who had obtained a warrant for his arrest in a hit-and-run in December that injured a pedestrian.

Darvin Kidsy, 20, is facing a charge of causing an accident involving personal injury, a third-degree felony.

“It’s possible another arrest will be forthcoming,” Denton police spokesman Ryan Grelle said.

Investigators believe Kidsy, a junior receiver from Missouri City, was the driver of a maroon pickup that struck two pedestrians about 2:15 a.m. Dec. 5 on South Carroll Boulevard at the intersection of West Sycamore Street, about two blocks west of UNT’s campus, an arrest warrant affidavit stated.

The 911 call about the crash was received at 2:20 a.m.

A witness told police that the maroon truck, later identified as Kidsy’s, made a left turn onto Carroll Boulevard, “so far wide, in fact, the vehicle struck the pedestrians and drove up onto the sidewalk,” according to the affidavit.

Another witness said the crash “appeared intentional.”

The two pedestrians, both in their 20s, were taken to a hospital. One had “severe trauma,” including broken bones and teeth, according to the affidavit.

An officer located the truck later that morning at an apartment complex about 2 miles from the scene. The truck’s license plate was traced to Kidsy, who had called 911 about 4:30 p.m. Dec. 5 to report the truck stolen, the affidavit said.

Kidsy told police he had been playing video games with his football teammates the night of the crash, and he woke up about 11 a.m. and noticed his truck missing.

Location services on Kidsy’s cellphone later showed that Kidsy was in the area of two Denton bars from about 11:45 p.m. to 2:15 a.m., about five minutes before the crash occured, the affidavit said.

The affidavit did not indicate whether police think Kidsy was intoxicated.

Police later interviewed a friend of Kidsy’s who they believed was with Kidsy the night of the crash.

The friend was hesitant to implicate Kidsy in the crash “because Kidsy would lose his scholarship” and “because UNT just hired a new football coach and something like this would be considered a big distraction,” the affidavit said.

When Kidsy didn’t respond to interview requests, police obtained a search warrant for the friend’s cellphone on Jan. 7. The cellphone showed that the friend tried to contact another person multiple times a few minutes after the time of the crash.

“This appears to be a situation of panic,” Denton police officer Lucas Bailey wrote in the affidavit.

A warrant for Kidsy’s arrest was signed Jan. 8.

“The athletic department has been made aware of the arrest of a member of the North Texas football team, although the information available to us is limited,” North Texas athletic director Rick Villarreal said in a statement Friday.

“Based on my knowledge, it wouldn’t be prudent for me to comment any further.”

This story was originally published January 15, 2016 at 7:54 PM with the headline "UNT football player arrested in hit-and-run case."