Charges are pending against a hit-and-run suspect who allegedly struck a 28-year-old Glendale man, leaving him with a skull fracture and bleeding to the brain along with other injuries, the Glendale Police Department police reported.
The victim, who has an intellectual disability and epilepsy, was walking to work on May 19 at the Glendale Galleria. He had left his house around 4 a.m. when he was struck by a driver in a red pickup truck on the corner of Tyler Street and Park Avenue, according to his aunt, Maricela Ochoa.
“I want you to know my nephew has a routine, so he has a certain route and he’s been working over a year,” Ochoa told the Glendale News-Press.
The suspect drove away after allegedly hitting the victim, who continued to walk to work. He showed up an hour later covered in blood, police said. Once officers were on the scene, they noticed that there was a laceration to his head.
“While at the hospital, the victim remembered being hit by a red vehicle but could not remember where or when,” according to a statement by GPD traffic investigators.
The victim was hospitalized for a week and returned home on May 26, where he continues to recover, Ochoa said.
For several days following the incident, traffic investigators used surveillance footage to track the victim’s path of travel and located the traffic collision scene approximately two miles away from where the victim was found.
Surveillance footage showed the victim being struck while crossing a residential street near his home. The suspect was then seen fleeing the location, leaving the victim lying in the middle of the street, according to GPD.
After additional follow-up by the investigators, a vehicle matching the description was located, and they were able to identify the suspect.
On May 23, the suspect was arrested for felony hit-and-run for fleeing the scene of a collision that caused great bodily injury.
This case is still pending and under investigation by the GPD Traffic Bureau. Once complete, the case will be presented to the L.A. County District Attorney’s office for consideration of filing criminal charges.
“I want Glendale to be aware that too many people are getting hit,” said Ochoa. “Some don’t make it, and people need to take accountability. My family needs to do everything we can to let [the suspect] know that he can’t get away from this crime. He did not have the decency to stop and in good faith give aid to a human life.”
First published in the June 3 print issue of the Glendale News-Press.
