Driver who killed Bay teacher back in court

Antonio Eugene Cellestine, who went to prison for the 2009 hit-and-run death of a Hudson’s Bay High School teacher, was back in court on Friday.

Cellestine, 21, appeared in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of taking a car without permission and attempting to elude police. He is scheduled to be arraigned on those charges July 26.

In January 2010, Cellestine was sentenced to five years in prison for the hit-and-run vehicular homicide of Gordon Patterson. Cellestine was texting his girlfriend and driving when he struck and killed Patterson, who was riding his bicycle home from work on Northeast St. Johns Road.

Cellestine had been out of prison for two months when the Washington State Patrol arrested him Thursday, according to court records. He has been living with his grandmother and working for a temp agency.

Cellestine had taken his mother’s white Oldsmobile on Wednesday morning, and drove away when a state trooper attempted to stop him for cutting in front of a tractor-trailer, according to a probable cause affidavit.

His mother told the trooper she occasionally let Cellestine use the car, although his license is suspended, according to the affidavit.

Judge David Gregerson set bail at $50,000.

Erin Middlewood: 360-735-4516; http://twitter.com/emiddlewood; http://facebook.com/reportermiddlewood; erin.middlewood@columbian.com.