Paramedic Pleads Guilty in Hit-and-Run Death

A 26-year-old paramedic pleaded guilty Thursday to charges stemming from the hit-and-run traffic death of a Ventura woman last month.

Scott Ryan Ramirez of Oxnard admitted he hit the woman at a busy Ventura Avenue intersection while he was drunk. He fled in his Dodge pickup and was arrested shortly afterward in the Wagon Wheel area of Oxnard.

For his role in the death of Linda Mary Brandon, 51, Ramirez pleaded guilty to two felonies--gross vehicular manslaughter while drunk and leaving the scene of an accident. He faces a maximum prison term of 11 years and eight months.

The death prompted Ventura City Councilman Jim Monahan to ask the city for a traffic light at Ventura Avenue and Warner Street, which he called the city’s most dangerous intersection.

Monahan said he has submitted a request for the stoplight, which could cost $60,000 to $100,000. He said the Westside Community Council is circulating a petition supporting the idea.

“Things are starting to move,” he said.

On the afternoon of Feb. 14, Ramirez had been drinking with a friend at a Pacific View Mall restaurant and was seen driving recklessly in the shopping center parking lot, authorities said. The pair later stopped at a Ventura bar, and dented a parked car when they left.

At about 5:20 p.m., Brandon was in a marked crosswalk on Ventura Avenue as Ramirez approached at about 40 mph, 10 mph over the speed limit, police said. Several cars had stopped for Brandon but Ramirez did not. Police said he swerved into a left-turn lane and struck the pedestrian. The impact threw Brandon 30 feet in front of the pickup, and Ramirez then drove over her body, police said.

Prosecutors on Thursday said they would argue for the maximum prison term at Ramirez’s sentencing. “I think it is really egregious that in light of his life-saving skills he would run over a victim and flee the scene,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Audry Rohn said.