People v. Zachar

FOURT, J. This is an appeal from a judgment of conviction of a violation of Vehicle Code section 20001 (hit-and-run driving).

In an information filed in Los Angeles County July 20, 1962, the defendant was charged with driving an automobile which struck Jose Augustine Lewis and resulted in injury to such person, further with failing to stop and to give to Jose Lewis, or to any police officer at the scene of the accident, his name and address, the registration number of the vehicle which he was driving, the name of the owner of the vehicle, and further with failing to exhibit his operator’s license and neglecting to render all reasonable assistance to Jose Lewis, he being in need of assistance by reason of the injuries sustained in the accident. The defendant was arraigned on July 20, 1962, and trial was set for August 14, 1962. A jury trial was waived and defendant was found guilty as charged. Defendant’s application for probation was heard and sentence imposed on September 25, 1962. Defendant was sentenced to 90 days in jail, the sentence was suspended and defendant placed on probation for three years, a part of the terms being that he pay a fine of $350, obey all of the laws and comply with other usual directions.

A résumé of some of the facts is as follows: on June 6,1962, shortly after 5 p.m., Jose Lewis, aged 12, started to cross 54th Street near 3rd Avenue in Los Angeles in the middle of the block. Defendant was driving a 1957 Lincoln automobile easterly on 54th Street and struck the boy with his car. Defendant stopped his car, got out and walked to [521]the area where the accident occurred. The boy apparently had stood up after being knocked down by the automobile and had walked to the curb area of the street, where he then lay down. The boy was bleeding at the mouth and on his leg. The defendant looked at the boy, went back to his automobile, got in and drove away. A lady who was driving a car on the street at or about the same time of the accident took down the number of defendant’s car before he drove away and later gave the number to the police.

The driver of the automobile which struck the boy was told by a person at the scene of the accident “not to move his ear”—however the driver “just went on.” The boy was taken in an ambulance to a hospital, where he stayed for approximately six days.

The police arrived at the scene of the accident and secured the defendant’s car number, and officers went to the defendant’s address and located him. In a conversation with the police the defendant at first denied that he had been involved in any accident, however later on he changed his story and stated that he was scared, that it was not his fault, and that someone at the scene had told him to leave—that “he looked at the little boy and got back into his car and drove eastbound on 54th Street.”