Suspect Arrested in Hit-and-Run

A local man was jailed on suspicion of felony hit-and-run after a three-car crash Saturday at the intersection of McCloud Avenue and Hillcrest Drive outside The Oaks shopping mall, authorities said.

An 11-year-old boy suffered multiple cuts on his face from auto glass that shattered in the 4:50 p.m. crash, said Deputy John Popp. The boy was taken by ambulance to Los Robles Regional Medical Center where he was treated and released.

Edgar Lopez, 34, was arrested shortly after the crash at his Thousand Oaks house after witnesses gave police the license plate number of a tan Toyota Corolla station wagon involved in the crash. The car was found parked in front of Lopez’s house, Popp said.

“We interviewed him and he said he left because he was scared,” Popp said.

Police believe Lopez was driving west on Hillcrest when he ran a red light and broad-sided a blue Ford Aerostar van, carrying the 11-year-old boy, the boy’s friend and his father, who was driving, Popp said.

Upon impact, the van flipped over and landed on the hood of a Mercedes, Popp said. When police arrived, the van’s occupants were hanging upside down, held in place by their seat belts, Popp said.

Van driver David Lewis, 39, of Thousand Oaks, and his son were not injured. Mercedes driver Cheryl Yamamoto, 43, also of Thousand Oaks, was not injured.