Family Speaks Out After Fatal Auto-Ped Crash In NW OKC

Every Saturday, Jean Grant said she would get a call from her daughter.

“She’d say, ‘Hi mom. Whatcha doin'? How are you and where’s dad?”

She said that's just who 32-year-old Arlene Mathews was. She cared about everybody. 

“It was a natural thing for her to be kind to people,” Grant said

Mathews worked as a certified nurse's aide, helping a patient with a debilitating illness five days a week. She had just started a second job at a gas station. Grant said Mathews was walking there when she was hit near NW 23 and Penn.

“It was anger at first because of how it happened and what had happened to her,” Grant said.

Police said witnesses reported the driver, Nathaniel Pagan, revving his engine at a red light alongside an unknown motorcyclist. Investigators estimate he was going 60 mph in a 40 mph zone right before hitting Mathews.  

Court documents said she was "drawn under the vehicle, then dragged and rolled approximately 109 feet."

Oklahoma City police requested an arrest warrant for negligent homicide and reckless driving be issued for Nathaniel Pagan. On Monday, they said he was still outstanding.

“I was at the point where I couldn’t say her name without crying and getting sick to my stomach,” Grant explained.

Now, holding on to the memories of Mathews, Grant just hopes the driver takes responsibility.

“I hope he learn so he won’t do it again – hurt anybody else like he did our family. It’s awful,” she said