While on her 5 a.m. paper route for the Beaumont Enterprise, a delivery driver allegedly hit a pedestrian with her car before leaving him for dead and lying to police about the incident, according to a May 5 indictment.
Aug. 7, 2020 at about 5:45 a.m., Beaumont Police Department officers were dispatched to the area of E. Lucas and Helbig roads in reference to an auto-pedestrian accident. A witness, later identified as 29-year-old Orireanna Grace Coleman, called to report the accident for which she was culpable — something she initially kept from officers.
During their first trip to the scene, officers and EMS were unable to locate the victim from Coleman’s testimony, according to the probable cause affidavit. The next day, officers received a call about a body in a ditch around the 5100 block of Helbig Road. The victim was identified as 27-year-old Nicholas Erie Cole.
To gather more information, the investigating officer called Coleman, who said she saw headlights swerve from the hit-and-run vehicle as she was heading in the opposite direction. She initially described the vehicle as a dark-colored truck, but during their subsequent conversation told officers it was more of an SUV-type vehicle. Coleman told officers that a mirror flew off the vehicle during the accident, that she didn’t know whether a person was hit and that the vehicle had a slight tint that prevented her from identifying the driver.
At the scene, officers recovered a dark grey outside housing for a right-side rearview mirror, as well as a fog light assembly for the right side of a Chevrolet Traverse. Detectives searched cameras in the area for the time frame of the accident and saw only one car pass through during that time – a Chevrolet Traverse with a license plate registered to Orireanna Coleman.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Coleman gave officers a false spelling of her name, an inaccurate birthdate and failed to provide her actual address. After travelling to Coleman’s actual address, officers located Coleman’s Traverse with damage to its right side, including a missing right fog lamp. Coleman’s car also appeared to have a new right-side rearview mirror that was a different color than the left side’s.
After speaking with Coleman’s supervisor at the Beaumont Enterprise, officers learned the suspect was delivering papers along her route when she allegedly struck the victim. Her supervisor told officers Coleman called her that evening saying she dozed off for a second and hit a pole, and that a man had to jump out of the way.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Cole was struck and thrown off the west side of the roadway into a shallow ditch. The autopsy report indicated that Cole died due to “delayed medical complications due to blunt-force trauma. This indicates that had Orireanna Coleman stayed at the scene of the accident and shown officers and EMS exactly where (Cole) was lying, he may have survived the accident. She lied about her name, date of birth and address in an effort that she nor her vehicle could be located regarding this incident.”
Coleman’s name was not listed among those on Jefferson County’s inmate roster May 10.