Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Citizens Chase Driver After Two-Car Crash : Traffic: Motorist, found hiding behind a house, is booked for hit-run. Two were hurt in accident.

The Wild West made a return to downtown Newhall on Monday when a posse of citizens hunted down a motorist who allegedly fled an accident in which a woman and her 4-year-old daughter suffered minor injuries.

The collision occurred just before High Noon in a Santa Clarita neighborhood filled with Old West landmarks.

Grant Robertson, 28, said he “was just sittin’ down to some bacon and eggs” at a corner diner when he heard the collision outside. Sheriff’s deputies say an older model Toyota Corolla had made a U-turn on San Fernando Road at the intersection of 9th Street and hit a southbound Ford pickup truck.

A man and a boy got out of the Toyota and started high-tailing it away from the scene, Robertson said. But about half a dozen people from the diner and a nearby bus stop gave chase.

“We had a regular posse after them,” Robertson said.

The driver eluded his pursuers for several blocks, said Jonny Infante, 20, one of those who gave chase. But Robertson said the quarry must have doubled back because he was eventually found hiding behind a house only about two blocks from the collision.

“I grabbed his arm and said, ‘You’re coming with us,’ ” Robertson said.

The pursuers held the man--Martin Reyes, 24, of Newhall--at the scene until sheriff’s deputies arrived to make an arrest. Reyes was booked into custody at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station on suspicion of felony hit and run, Deputy John Banks said.