A judge Wednesday ordered a hit and run driver to stand trial in the Dec. 15, 2015 death of Raymart Martos, 21, who was killed while changing a flat tire on the center divider of southbound Interstate 5 in Chula Vista.
A May 19 trial date was set for Christopher Ramirez Reyes, 30, at the end of the preliminary hearing conducted by Chula Vista Superior Court Judge Kenneth Medel.
Martos was changing a flat tire on his Honda Civic at 5:30 a.m. not far from Mile of Cars Way. California Highway Patrol officer Daniel Jimenez was at the scene and said it was dark at the time.
Jimenez said Martos, of Imperial Beach, appeared dead, with tools for changing a tire nearby. He was not breathing and paramedics confirmed his death.
Jimenez noticed an abandoned Dodge with vehicle damage and an airbag had deployed inside. The Dodge also had a flat tire on the center divider.
CHP officer Bradley Clinkscales said they ran the vehicle’s license plate and found it was registered to a Chula Vista woman. They contacted her and she said she sold the Dodge to someone else a year earlier on Craigslist and did not remember his name.
Clinkscales said they discovered a parking ticket in Reyes’ name for the Dodge and discovered he lived in Linda Vista.
Clinkscales said someone there gave him Reyes’ cell phone number.
Reyes had fled to Tijuana where his girlfriend lived. Clinkscales called him on his cell phone and Reyes admitted to the collision, saying “that he had panicked and fled to Mexico.”
Reyes told Clinkscales he had a jittery passenger with him who yelled “run!” after the collision, and they both got on a trolley and went to Mexico. Reyes’ parents persuaded him to return to the U.S.
Reyes was arrested after an interview with the CHP and remains in jail on $75,000 bail. He pleaded not guilty at the end of the hearing.
Reyes’ attorney, Ryan Maguire-Fong, asked the judge to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor, saying Reyes had no criminal record and made “a mistake” to leave the scene. He said Reyes is a construction worker, has a pregnant girlfriend and an 11-year-old son.
“He could have chosen not to come back, but he did come back,” said Maguire-Fong.
Deputy District Attorney Christopher Chandler opposed any reduction, saying “this is the worst type of hit and run we have—a hit and run with death.” He added: “He fled to Mexico and he waited for police to contact him.”
Medel denied the motion to reduce the charge. If convicted, Reyes could face at least four years in prison.
