Texas woman accused of leaving man to die in windshield after hit & run

Jet, March 25, 2002

A 25-year-old Fort Worth woman was recently charged with murder following a fatal hit and run incident which allegedly left a dying man lodged, head first, in the windshield of her car for two days.

Authorities say Chante J. Mallard admitted she hit Gregory Glenn Biggs, 37, with her 1997 Chevrolet Cavalier last October and then drove home with him in the windshield instead of getting help. She was arrested on murder charges and released after posting bond. She faces life in prison if convicted of murdering Biggs.

Mallard allegedly told police she had been drinking and using ecstasy that October night and was driving home when she struck Biggs. The impact hurled him headfirst through the windshield, his broken legs crumpled on the hood. Mallard said she panicked and drove a few miles to her home with the man still caught in the windshield, according to police.

Once at her home, authorities say she left Biggs in the windshield for two or three days. Mallard allegedly told police she periodically went into the garage, apologizing to him but ignoring his cries for help.

"We have information that shows that the person was [trapped in the car's windshield] long enough that they lived, suffered and they were not given medical attention and that it would have made a difference if they were," said Tarrant County prosecutor Richard Alpert.

Authorities said that after Biggs died, Mallard and some friends dumped his body in a park, where it was found October 27. Police plan to file charges against them as well.

The crime went unsolved until police received a tip last month that led them to Mallard.

The car was still in her garage and police found Biggs' blood and hair in the smashed windshield, police said. The car's seats had been burned in the back yard.

"I'm going to have to come up with a new word. Indifferent isn't enough. Cruel isn't enough to say," said Alpert. "Heartless? Inhumane? Maybe we've just redefined inhumanity here."

Mallard's attorney, Mike Heiskell, said his client is "not the animal or monster the police are portraying her to be. [She is] not this cold inhumane person that we've heard about."

Heiskell said the accusations against Mallard are unwarranted: "I think this is overreaching on the part of the prosecution and the police and, in the end, I believe the law will shake out that this was simply a case of failure to stop and render aid."