Suspect in Fatal Hit-Run Had 5 Past Citations

A man cited five times in seven months for traffic violations was arrested Friday after admitting he ran down a Ventura woman who was walking her dogs--and kept on driving, police said.

Christopher Nathan Ringgold, 19, was booked into Ventura County Jail on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter in the accident on Thompson Boulevard that killed Leslie Dawn Talley, who would have turned 51 on Friday.

Ringgold walked into Ventura Police headquarters Friday morning to report his gray Ford Ranger had been stolen. After hours of questioning, police said, he admitted being behind the wheel when the truck slammed into Talley near South Ash Street about 6:55 p.m. Thursday--an intersection some neighbors call dangerous for pedestrians.

She was lifted onto the hood of the truck, which then swerved back and forth until she dropped off, witnesses said.

“We’re just so happy that they found this man,” said Talley’s brother, John Talley, who described his sister as a free-spirited woman who loved people and animals and opened her home to those in need.

“Leslie was an extraordinary woman who was full of love and life,” her brother said.

Talley lived in a modest bungalow about half a block from where she was killed. She walked her dogs to the beach each evening, neighbors said.

She befriended a group of women, all single and of similar ages, who live in the area, said friend and neighbor Sharon Craig.

On Sunday the women had planned to have a birthday party for Talley and for Craig, whose birthday is this weekend, Craig said.

To those friends and neighbors, Talley was known as “the dog lady” because she took in stray dogs and even had a ramp built to help an aged dog reach her front door.

“Oh, she was definitely an animal lover,” said Katina Andros, who lives across a driveway from Talley’s home.

Talley had health problems of her own, family members said--she struggled with seizures and the effects of a serious traffic accident that happened more than a decade ago.

But she made do despite her problems, friends said, and over the years had held down jobs at a day-care center, working with the disabled at Ventura College, and more recently working with an elderly woman and cleaning homes, her brother Ben Talley said.

“My wife and I were with her just an hour before the accident and she was really happy,” Ben Talley said. “She seemed like she was seizing hold of her life. . . . I was humbled to know her.”

That evening, as was her custom, Talley walked her two dogs to the beach, going down Ash Street and then over the pedestrian bridge that crosses the highway and leads to the Ventura Pier. She was struck on her way home.

Craig, who lives about half a block from the accident site, heard screeching tires and a scream when the accident occurred.

“For some reason I knew it was her and I ran out there,” Craig said.

Talley was crumpled, unconscious and bleeding, in the street. Her two dogs--both strays that she had adopted--were cowering nearby.

Police had a good description of the truck, which had damage to its front end, and a partial license plate.

About eight hours after the accident, a California Highway Patrol officer pulled over the same truck for an unrelated traffic violation. The CHP impounded the truck and arrested the driver, whom they did not identify apart from saying he was not Ringgold.

Investigators would not say when they linked the truck to the accident, but when Ringgold walked into the Ventura Police Department headquarters a few hours later saying his truck had been stolen, he was questioned closely, said Cpl. John Turner, the department’s traffic investigator.

After several hours with investigators, Ringgold admitted to being behind the wheel when the truck hit Talley, Turner said.

Ringgold also described how he tried to “conceal, disguise and then report stolen his vehicle to avoid responsibility,” Turner said in a written police report.

Court records show that in the past seven months Ringgold has been cited five times for traffic offenses including speeding, driving without a headlight, driving without registration and--only five days before the accident--failing to stop at a crosswalk.

“It just makes me wonder how someone like that could still have a driver’s license,” said Craig.

Several neighbors said the intersection where Talley was hit is particularly dangerous for pedestrians because there is no crosswalk.

“A lot of people walk or jog across there every day on their way to the beach,” said Connie Brannon, who lives on South Ash Street a few houses down from where the accident happened. “The traffic doesn’t even slow down.”

A year ago, about 130 area residents and businesses signed a petition asking for restoration of a crosswalk that had been removed about a block away from where Talley was hit. But city officials said studies showed the crosswalk was not safe.

City traffic studies showed that on four-lane streets, cars do not stop for pedestrians, said Nazir Lalani, a city traffic engineer.

“We’re very sympathetic, but in light of what we’ve found there really isn’t much we can do,” Lalani said. “And it is frustrating to know that within a block away there is a traffic light.”

An 11 a.m. memorial service for Talley is scheduled for Tuesday at the Church of the Foothills, with a reception to follow at Arroyo Verde Park. Talley will be cremated and her ashes scattered on the ocean by her sons.