Sentencing is set for April 7 for the hit-and-run driver who killed a promising young medical student who was struck in La Mesa in 2021.

Scott Douglas Satterfield, 62, of Spring Valley, pleaded guilty to felony hit and run in the death of Jok “Michael” Joseph Jok, 18, who was struck by his Ford F150 pickup truck on Bancroft Drive just south of Golondrina Drive in La Mesa.

Deputy District Attorney David Vallero said Satterfield faces a maximum sentence of four years in state prison after pleading guilty in El Cajon Superior Court just before he was to have a preliminary hearing.

Jok “Michael” Joseph Jok, 18, was struck by a white Ford F150 pickup truck on Feb. 27, 2021, on Bancroft Drive just south of Golondrina Drive in La Mesa.

Jok was taken to a hospital around 9:10 p.m., but he died six days later on March 5, 2021 from head injuries. The driver fled the scene.

La Mesa Police alerted the public with photos of the vehicle from security cameras and announced Satterfield’s arrest on April 7, 2021. They said detectives were able to arrest Satterfield as the truck operator with help from San Diego Crime Stoppers, the media and the public.

No allegations of drunk or impaired driving were brought as he was not identified or arrested until five weeks after the incident.

Satterfield had been free on $25,000 bond for awhile, but was remanded into custody on Dec. 16. He remains in the East Mesa Detention Facility without bail.

Jok had begun an accelerated bachelor’s program at UC Riverside that would have led him to medical school, as he wanted to specialize in neuropharmacology, according to his obituary.

His parents came to the U.S. in 1998 as refugees from Sudan and his father became a case manager to help other refugees in San Diego. Jok was born in 2002.

—Neal Putnam is a local court reporter.