KXO RADIO - Hit and Run suspect arrested

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Hit and Run suspect arrested

Todays is : Sunday, 23 November 2008

Written by George Gale
Thursday, 04 September 2008
(Student knocked down by hit and run driver)….El Centro police responded to the call at 3:00 Tuesday afternoon. Sergeant Jeff Mason says a 13-year-old student from Wilson Jr. High School was walking along the sidewalk on her way home from school when she was struck by the mirror of a passing Ford Explorer. The girl was knocked to the ground and suffered lacerations to her right arm. She was treated at El Centro Regional Medical center and released. Mason says a witness noticed the Ford made no attempt to stop. The witness was able to box the Ford in near the intersection of Heil and Wilson. The Sergeant says the witness told the driver of the Ford what had happened. The driver, later identified as 38-year-old Alberto Landa of El Centro, told the witness he would return to the scene, but instead fled the area at a high rate of speed. The witness followed. Mason says the witness provided police with a description of the driver and the license plate of the Explorer. Officers went to the suspect’s home and found the Explorer parked behind a shed in the backyard. Landa was contacted and the witness identified him as the driver of the vehicle. Landa was taken into custody. He was booked into County Jail, charged with felony hit and run. His bail was set at $50,000.