Driver in Highway Worker’s Death Charged With Murder

The Los Angeles district attorney’s office on Friday upgraded to second-degree murder the charges against a driver who was allegedly under the influence of drugs when his truck struck and killed a Caltrans worker on the Antelope Valley Freeway last month.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Steve Ogden said the change was made after an investigation determined that Scott Ellis III, 42, of Palmdale was involved in a similar accident before. Ellis was in an accident about a year ago in which several people sustained minor injuries, and he was believed to have been under the influence of PCP at the time, Ogden said.

The California Highway Patrol, however, never submitted the case to the Los Angeles city attorney’s office for prosecution, Ogden said.

Ellis had previously been charged with vehicular homicide with gross negligence while intoxicated, which carries a maximum term of 10 years in prison.

If convicted of the second-degree murder charge--which alleges that Ellis knew his conduct was inherently dangerous to human life--Ellis could be sentenced to life in prison, according to Ogden.

Sgt. Mark Lunn, a CHP spokesman, verified that the highway patrol’s South Los Angeles office in Torrance had handled an earlier accident involving Ellis, but said he could not provide details of the accident or explain why Ellis was not prosecuted.

“The guy was not charged, but I don’t know why he was not charged,” Lunn said.

In addition to the murder count, Ellis has been charged with causing great bodily harm while driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and possession of PCP.

Ellis was apparently driving under the influence of PCP, a powerful hallucinogen, and under the influence of a prescription drug containing the narcotic codeine at the time of the July 29 accident that killed Caltrans employee Callie Joel Buser, 55, of Canoga Park, authorities said.

An undisclosed quantity of PCP was found in Ellis’ truck, Ogden said.

Buser was painting surveying symbols on the shoulder of the freeway south of the Soledad Canyon Road overpass when he was hit shortly after 1 p.m.

He was the 52nd Caltrans worker to be killed on the job in the past 10 years.

Ellis is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail in the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center jail ward, where he is recovering from injuries received in the accident.