A driver left the scene of a fatal Fresno County crash, but says it wasn’t hit-and-run
A Firebaugh woman who is accused of driving drunk and causing a fatal hit-and-run crash last year on Highway 180 will go to trial, a Fresno County Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday.
Kenia Rodriguez, 32, is charged with hit-and-run resulting in permanent injury or death, driving under the influence, and driving on a suspended or revoked license. Killed in the crash was 42-year-old Heather Martinez of Fresno.
Police said the collision happened at about 2:30 a.m. on Highway 180 near North Piedra Road in east Fresno County. Rodriguez, who was driving a 2000 Toyota Camry, was on her way home from Table Mountain Casino when the crash happened, said California Highway Patrol Officer Joshua Beard.
“She said she hit something and she believed it was a person,” Beard testified. “She stopped at the scene and was contacted by others who also stopped.”
Beard said someone at the scene told her that she didn’t need to stay because the crash was an accident. Before leaving, however, Rodriguez gave one of the witnesses a piece of paper with her name and phone number.
Soon after the crash, rescue personnel and law enforcement officers arrived on the scene. Among them was Fresno County Sheriff’s Deputy Nathan Sweany, The deputy testified that when he arrived one of the witnesses told him the driver who caused the crash had left just moments ago.
The deputy caught up to Rodriguez who was about a half mile away on Highway 180. He testified that when he asked her to get out of her car, he smelled a strong odor of alcohol. She was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.
Rodriguez’s attorney David Jones argued that his client should not have been charged with felony hit and run.
He said she did stop after she hit Martinez, and she provided her name and phone number to one of the witnesses at the scene of the accident. The witness, Vanessa Bravo, was on her way home from a family party and was being driven her boyfriend when they “saw a body in the middle of the road.”
Bravo testified that Rodriguez came up to her passenger side window, knocked on the glass and asked to use her phone. Bravo gave Rodriguez her phone and described her as being shaken and in tears.
“She then asked for paper and a pen and she gave me her name and phone number,” Bravo said.
Deputy District Attorney Bianca Aguayo, the prosecutor in the case, said the defendant may have stopped briefly after she struck the victim, but she failed to provide enough information to police before leaving.
“It was just her name and phone number, there was no identifying information that was provided to witnesses or law enforcement,” Aguayo said.
Aguayo also took issue with the lack of help she provided the victim. She asked Bravo about who Rodriguez called. Bravo said she didn’t know but she believes it was a regular number.
“Did she call law enforcement, did she call 911?” Aguayo asked. “It was just a phone number, it wasn’t to render any type of aid. She had reason to flee because she knew she was DUI.”
Judge Michael Idiart said Rodriguez failed to provide a few key requirements at a hit and run accident, including current address and registration number of the vehicle.
It’s unclear why Martinez was walking on the highway that night. Investigators found Martinez’s car, but for an unknown reason, she pulled off onto the right shoulder. She then got out of her car and was walking within the shoulder and in the roadway when she was hit by the Toyota.
Idiart also said that in many cases bad things happen when people choose to walk on the highway at night.
“Ninety nine times out of a 100, a pedestrian on a highway at night causes their own death,” he said.
“You are not expecting people to be walking on the highway. Nevertheless, when someone is involved in an accident you do the decent thing and stop and assist and offer your name, address, etc.”
This story was originally published October 26, 2021 at 5:19 PM.
