Driver Arrested in Hit-and-Run Fatality

An Oxnard father of two was killed Tuesday morning by a hit-and-run driver near an industrial park on Camino Del Sol near Kinetic Drive on the east side of town.

Javier Castellon, 25, was struck by a van traveling westbound on Camino Del Sol as he tried to cross the road near a U.S. Postal Service sorting station about 6:30 a.m. in the predawn fog. Castellon was thrown several feet by the impact.

Castellon was taken to St. John’s Regional Medical Center where he died at about 7:15 a.m., said Mitch Breese of the Ventura County coroner’s office.

The driver of the van stopped his vehicle, checked Castellon’s condition and then drove off, officials said. Javier Hernandez, 24, was stopped a short distance from the accident and arrested on suspicion of felony hit-and-run.

“The irony is that if he had just stayed and rendered aid to the victim he wouldn’t have been charged with anything,” said Senior Officer Tom Chronister, a spokesman for the Oxnard Police Department.

Police traffic investigators determined that Castellon had failed to yield to the van when he tried to cross in the middle of the street, Chronister said. Castellon is survived by his wife, Elida, a 7-year-old son and a 5-year-old daughter.