ROBERT — An 18-year-old from Ponchatoula was arrested in connection with a crash that injured two people in Robert. 

According to Tangipahoa Parish deputies, a 17-year-old girl and a 20-year-old man were found critically injured on the side of U.S. 190 in Robert around 5 a.m. on Aug. 2. The pair were taken to a local hospital, where the teen girl remains in critical condition. She is improving, deputies noted. The man is in serious condition. 

Deputies later learned that Josean Martinez was driving recklessly in a pickup truck while the man was standing in the bed and the teen girl was hanging out of the rear passenger window. Both people were holding on to the top of the truck. 

At some point, both people lost their grip and were thrown to the ground, deputies added. 

A passerby called 911. Neither Martinez nor a 13-year-old girl who was also present at the time of the crash called authorities. Deputies say they left the scene before authorities arrived. 

Evidence also showed that Martinez tried to hide the truck after the crash. 

Martinez was arrested and booked into the Tangipahoa Parish Jail on two counts of negligent injury and failure to seek assistance, as well as one count each of obstruction of justice, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and driving without a license. The 13-year-old was also cited for failure to seek assistance. 

“Two lives are in jeopardy over foolishness," Sheriff Gerald Sticker said in a statement.