A 19-year-old Vancouver man is accused in a fatal hit-and-run of a pedestrian who was reportedly crossing Fourth Plain Boulevard outside of a crosswalk after dark. The driver allegedly told police he left the scene after he couldn’t find any victim.
Oscar Martinez Serna Jr. appeared Wednesday in Clark County Superior Court on a summons for a charge of hit-and-run resulting in death. Judge David Gregerson granted him supervised release. He is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 4.
Vancouver police responded at 9:25 p.m. March 12 to the 13100 block of Northeast Fourth Plain Boulevard for reports of an injury crash. A C-Tran bus driver called 911 to report he saw a car strike a pedestrian, according to a probable cause affidavit.
When officers arrived, they initially couldn’t find any victims or involved vehicles. About 15 minutes later, another person called 911 to report a person dead in a ditch. Police then located Edmundo Santos Hernandez, 41, lying in a culvert between the street and sidewalk. Officers said he was barely visible from the roadway, court records state.
Paramedics responded and declared Santos Hernandez dead, according to the affidavit.
About an hour and a half after the crash, Martinez Serna Jr. arrived at the scene with two friends. The friends told officers Martinez Serna Jr. doesn’t speak English. They said he may have been involved in a crash, and they brought him back after he told them what happened, the affidavit states.
Through an interpreter line, Martinez Serna Jr. told police he was driving home when he hit something. He didn’t know what he hit, he said, and he thought it might have been an animal. He said he pulled over and looked around, but he didn’t see anything in the road. He picked up some parts that had fallen from his car, he said, and drove home, according to court records.
Martinez Serna Jr. said he was nervous and didn’t think about calling 911 to report what happened, the affidavit states.
He showed officers a video he took of his car, which had extensive front-end damage and a hole in the windshield. Officers later drove to his apartment and seized the car as evidence, court records state.
Investigators said Martinez Serna Jr. did not appear to be impaired, and he denied using any drugs or alcohol, according to the affidavit.
Video from the C-Tran bus captured Santos Hernandez walking across Fourth Plain, despite cars approaching. The video captured the crash, but officers said it did not show whether Martinez Serna Jr. stopped and looked around before leaving, court records state.
The bus driver told officers he saw the driver of the car pull over, but he did not see if the driver got out, according to the affidavit.
