Local News in Brief : Santa Ana : 3 Honored for Catching Hit-and-Run Suspect
A Marine corporal from Tustin and two Santa Ana men have been honored for outstanding community service by the City Council for helping catch a driver who struck a man in a crosswalk and then sped away.
Jon Eric Tate, 24, a production controller at the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station, watched one morning last month as the driver of a Chevrolet Impala sped through an intersection in downtown Santa Ana, striking a man crossing the street.
Tate said he “felt helpless” because traffic prevented him from reaching 48-year-old Jose Hector Nava, who was lying fatally injured in the street. “I couldn’t help the guy, but catching the guy who hit him was the least I could do,” he said.
Tate gave chase and blocked off the Impala on 2nd Street near Standard Avenue and with the help of two other men who had also witnessed the accident--Crisogono Sanchez Mendez and Joel Sanchez Gil--detained the driver until police arrived a few minutes later.
The 17-year-old driver is in Juvenile Hall awaiting trial on charges of felony hit-and-run, vehicular manslaughter, driving while intoxicated and driving without a license, Sgt. Collie Provence said.
“It would have been very difficult for us to catch him without the assistance of those three men,” Provence said.
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