Hit-Run Fatality Raises Concerns

Spurred on by the hit-and-run death of a Ventura woman the day before, a city official said Friday he will push to have a stoplight placed at the busy Avenue intersection where the accident occurred and for a review of increased traffic congestion on the west side.

“It’s outrageous that this hasn’t been taken care of many years ago,” said Councilman Jim Monahan, who owns a welding shop near the intersection. “Staff has neglected to take a serious look at this area. Until someone gets killed it doesn’t get any attention.”

Linda Mary Brandon, 51, was hit by a Dodge pickup about 4:30 p.m. Thursday as she crossed Ventura Avenue at a marked crosswalk, just south of Warner Street. She died about an hour later, said Craig Stevens, a senior county deputy medical examiner.

The driver immediately fled. A short time later police arrested Scott Ryan Ramirez, 26, and Jordan Pruss, 23, at Wagon Wheel Road in Oxnard, Police Sgt. John Turner said

Ramirez, who Turner said was driving, was booked on three felony counts of gross vehicular manslaughter, hit-and-run with injury and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

He is being held in lieu of $105,000 bail at Ventura County Jail. Pruss was booked on suspicion of obstructing or resisting an officer. He remains in custody on $10,000 bail, officials said.

Their arrests ended a day of drinking that began at a restaurant bar at the Pacific View Mall where the men were later seen driving recklessly in the parking lot, Turner said. They continued to a Main Street bar where they had drinks and dented the hood of a parked car as they left, police said.

Turner said Brandon, a Ventura native, was walking westbound in the Ventura Avenue crosswalk when she was hit by the truck. The vehicle was traveling in excess of 40 mph, about 10 mph over the speed limit, Turner said.

Witnesses told investigators that several cars had stopped at the crosswalk as Brandon walked onto the street. The pickup swerved into a center left-turn lane before striking the woman, Turner said. The impact threw Brandon about 30 feet onto the pavement, where she was then run over by the truck, he said.

Monahan said the area where Brandon was struck has been the site of many accidents involving pedestrians. He plans to ask the council at its Feb. 25 meeting to review traffic studies for Ventura Avenue to determine whether a signal should be installed at the intersection.

Residents and workers in the neighborhood where Brandon was killed agreed that traffic has become a major problem on the narrow main thoroughfare and nearby side streets.

“You could be standing right there waiting to cross and they don’t care, they will run you over,” said Angel Benavente, a clerk at the Red Barn Market who witnessed the accident. “There’s been a lot of accidents here.”