Daughter of man arrested in deadly hit-and-run speaks out
The daughter of the man arrested after a hit-and-run accident that left a woman dead speaks out on what went through her father’s head the night of the accident.
“He said, I’m on my way to the police station. I ran someone over and they died,” said Maria Montano, the daughter of the man arrested in the accident. She said those were the words she heard over the phone from her father Wednesday night.
Read: Suspect driver arrested in hit-and-run collision
Calexico resident, Jesus Montano, 63, was on his way to work when he hit and killed a woman who police said was in the road at the time of the crash.
Jesus was arrested for a felony violation of a hit and run for failing to remain on scene of a traffic collision. Maria says her father panicked.
“It was the fear that lead him to actually leave the scene, rather than he himself, for his own safety, stay there,” Maria said.
Maria said once he realized he hit a person, he turned himself in to the Palm Springs Police Department. Thursday he posted bail at $75,000.
Maria describes her father as a hardworking, responsible man.
“Not all people are bad and it wasn’t an intentional incident. It was an accident,” Maria said.
It’s the first pedestrian fatality in Palm Springs this year.
A local advocacy group called P.S Cares has been working to prevent accidents like the one Wednesday night. David Carden, the founder of P.S. Cares, said that stretch on Ramon Rd has been on his radar.
“What we’re looking at now, with PS Cares, is working with the city engineering department to find out what the costs are to paint a crosswalk, what the costs would be to maybe have a sign that has a solar component to it that has lights that blink that say there are pedestrians in that section area. So we can go to city hall give them a check and say go to work,” Carden said.
P.S Cares has raised $15,000 and is hoping to raise enough to front future projects in the city.
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