Hit-Run Suspect Had Suspended License

An Oceanside man who was charged Monday with the hit-and-run death of an elderly woman had been driving with a suspended license because of a conviction in a hit-run incident last year, authorities said.

Ricardo Santillan, 23, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Vista Municipal Court, but Judge William Draper refused to lower Santillan’s $15,000 bail when he learned of Santillan’s record.

The dry-cleaning worker is accused of striking 78-year-old Tony Scott-Hamilton on Friday as she and her husband of 54 years, Maxwell Scott-Hamilton, returned home from a morning walk.

Oceanside police and witnesses said Santillan sped from the accident, but two construction workers who had been driving by chased him in their truck and forced him to return to the scene, where he was arrested.

Santillan was arraigned on felony counts of vehicular manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, hit and run and one misdemeanor count of driving with a suspended license.

If convicted on all four counts, he could be sentenced to a maximum of six years in state prison, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregory Walden.

Santillan asked the judge to set a lower bail so he could be released from County Jail and keep his job. But Walden convinced Draper to uphold the original $15,000 bail, arguing that Santillan was traveling 55 to 60 m.p.h. in a 35-m.p.h. zone when he allegedly struck Scott-Hamilton.

Further, Walden said, Santillan was driving with a license that had been suspended after he committed a hit-and-run Feb. 9, during which property was damaged but no one was injured. Walden was not sure where that incident occurred.

Walden said Santillan was placed on three years’ probation by a Vista municipal judge April 25 and is still on probation.

“He was driving with a suspended license,” Walden said. “He was also driving without insurance.”

Santillan’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 16.