Prosecutors Charge Man Accused In Deadly Hit-And-Run
A 50-year-old man accused in the hit-and-run death of a pedestrian in Desert Hot Springs pleaded not guilty today to vehicular manslaughter and other charges.
Ronald Andrew Nelson Jr. of Desert Hot Springs faces two felony charges – – gross vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run resulting in death — along with a misdemeanor count of driving with a suspended license.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Sarah S. Jones set bail at $150,000 and ordered Nelson to return to court on Nov. 4 for a felony settlement conference.
Prosecutors said a witness told police that a dark colored SUV struck the 49-year-old victim who was walking across Palm Drive on October 20, 2010. The vehicle then fled the scene.
Desert Hot Springs detectives began an investigation in an effort to locate the driver of the vehicle.
Acting on a tip from a News Channel 3 viewer, a Desert Hot Springs police officer noticed a vehicle with front-end damage parked in the driveway of a Desert Hot Springs residence. The vehicle matched the description of the one from the fatal hit and run.
Detectives were able to reach Nelson, the owner of the vehicle, and determined that he had been the driver of the hit-and-run vehicle around 6:30 p.m. the night of the incident. Detectives also found that Nelson had been driving with a suspended license, is nearly 100 percent blind in one eye and had been traveling at an unsafe speed.
