Woman Videotaped Running Over Spouse

H O U S T O N, July 29, 2002 -- Police are examining amateur video they say shows a Houston orthodontist being repeatedly run down by his wife in her Mercedes-Benz after she found him with a woman she believed was his mistress.

The private investigator hired to follow David Harris videotaped the entire incident. Harris, 44, died hours later at a Houston hospital and funeral services were held over the weekend.

Prosecutors said Harris' wife, Clara, struck him repeatedly with her Mercedes outside a Houston hotel last Wednesday. She has been charged with murder.

Harris and his wife were going through a divorce when the incident occurred. They had two children together and had been married 10 years.

Clara Harris had hired a private investigator to follow her husband, apparently because she suspected he had been seeing another woman.

Last Wednesday, Clara Harris, accompanied by her 16-year-old stepdaughter, confronted her husband at the hotel where he was meeting his alleged mistress, Gail Bridges, authorities said.

Bridges and Clara Harris confronted each other in the lobby and Harris tore Bridges' shirt, witnesses said.

As David Harris walked Bridges to her car, Clara Harris and the 16-year-old girl got into their Mercedes-Benz and crashed into David, sending him 25 feet the other direction, witnesses and police said.

Prosecutor Mia Magness said Clara Harris then crossed two grassy medians and ran over her husband three more times before putting the car into reverse and backing over his body, leaving the car parked on him.

David Harris was taken to a local area hospital where he died later Wednesday evening.

Clara Harris told reporters after she was arrested, "It was an accident." She was released on $30,000 bail.

ABCNEWS affiliate KTRK in Houston contributed to this report.