Crime & Safety

Oceanside Man Arrested, Suspected of Hit-and-Run

Ricardo Gamez was arrested Thursday afternoon.

A 20-year-old Oceanside man was behind bars Friday for allegedly fleeing the scene of a traffic crash that critically injured a 5-year- old girl in Riverside.

Ricardo Gamez was arrested Thursday afternoon with the assistance of Oceanside police and booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on suspicion of felony hit-and-run, said Sgt. Skip Showalter of the Riverside Police Department Traffic Bureau.

The crash occurred at Magnolia Avenue and Nelson Street at 1:55 p.m. Monday, when a Chevrolet Malibu turning right from Nelson onto northbound Magnolia pulled out in front of a Ford Mustang, which broadsided it, Showalter said.

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The girl, who was in a child safety seat in the back of the Malibu, was taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center in critical condition, police said. The driver of the car, the girl's father, and a front-seat passenger escaped injury, Showalter said.

Carlie Rodriguez turned 5 today and was showing some improvement, The Riverside Press-Enterprise reported. While she remains in a medically induced coma, the bleeding in her brain has eased and she has good neurological signs, her aunt, Christina Perez, told the newspaper.

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The child was scheduled to undergo reconstructive neck surgery today, according to the Press-Enterprise.

The driver of the Mustang got out of the damaged vehicle and checked on the condition of the Malibu's occupants, then fled on foot, Showalter said.

A witness, Scott Gundrum, told reporters at the scene that he tended to the injured girl after the crash before she was taken to the hospital. He said the driver of the Mustang got out of the car and began yelling at the people in the Chevrolet.

"When he got out of the car, he started approaching the other vehicle and was yelling obscenities and blaming them for the accident," Gundrum said. "... When he saw that there was a girl on the ground, he turned around and left."

Police originally believed that the Mustang was stolen from the area of Madison and Evans streets prior to the collision, but investigators later determined the vehicle was falsely reported stolen to conceal Gamez's identity, Showalter said, adding that whoever filed the false report faces criminal charges.     Initial witness reports indicated the Mustang appeared to be racing an older-model orange or red two-door import sports car on northbound Magnolia, but investigators found "no further leads that would support" the sports car's involvement, Showalter said.

Donations toward Carlie's medical bills can be made through a fund set up by her family at Altura Credit Union. The account number is 2382125 and the routing number is 32281235, according to The Press-Enterprise.

-City News Service


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