ANAHEIM : Hit-Run Suspect Turns Himself In

A suspected hit-and-run driver who allegedly went out of his way to run over a man on the shoulder of the Santa Ana Freeway last weekend has turned himself in, authorities said Tuesday.

The driver, a 17-year-old from Anaheim, flagged down an Anaheim police squad car Monday night when he believed that the California Highway Patrol was about to arrest his father, who owns the car the youth was reportedly driving, CHP Officer Angel Johnson said.

“He decided to turn himself in when he saw newspaper articles describing him and his father’s vehicle,” Johnson said. She declined to name the suspect because he is a minor.

“He didn’t want his father arrested, and he heard from people on the street that the CHP had been in the neighborhood looking for the vehicle,” Johnson said. “He knew it would be better to turn himself in.”

Last Friday night, Anaheim resident Greg Delmonico, 32, and his wife were traveling north on the Santa Ana Freeway when a newly purchased kitchen table fell off the back of their truck near the South Street exit, Johnson said.

As Delmonico stood on the shoulder of the road attempting to retrieve the table, Johnson said, a car with three male occupants swerved out of slow, heavy traffic, and struck Delmonico, leaving him with serious injuries.

Johnson said witnesses heard the occupants of the car laughing as it sped away.

Witnesses provided CHP officers with a license plate number, and investigators used it to trace the owner of the 1971 Ford Galaxy.

The youth, a suspected gang member, is being held in Juvenile Hall on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon, Johnson said.