For Keith Taylor, the night started out with a fun, friendly Christmas party at the Tavern at the Beach on Garnet Avenue. The night ended with him lying in the street with two broken legs after an intoxicated man deliberately ran over the 30-year-old Lemon Grove man and fled the scene.
The Dec. 5 altercation started when the Tavern’s staff refused entry for the drunk man. The man then approached Taylor and his friends while they stood outside on the sidewalk. Taylor told the man to stop bothering them, and the drunk man walked away.
Taylor and his friend, Steven Rempel, noticed the man getting into a silver or gray Jeep Cherokee parked on Everts Street across from the pub. When Taylor pointed the man out to Rempel, the intoxicated man turned the wheels of the Jeep, punched the gas and barreled right for them.
Despite the effort to get out of the way, the Jeep sucked Taylor underneath and smashed his legs.
Rempel punched out the rear driver side window of the sliver Jeep Cherokee as the friends tumbled out of the way.
“I remember looking up. He had ran over both my legs,” Taylor said, “[then] he just peeled out across my legs with the back tire,”
Rempel briefly ran after the Jeep as Taylor lay on the ground in shock.
“I was on the ground. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything,” he said.
Taylor’s thinking fogged as he looked down at his legs. His left shin now bent at an unnatural right angle to his thigh. He instinctively tried to place his leg back to its natural position before paramedics arrived to rush him to the hospital.
Security cameras took photos of the suspect when he tried to enter the bar. Police describe him as a white male 30 to 40 years old, between 5-feet 10 inches and 6 feet tall, approximately 160 to 175 pounds. He had short, brown spiky hair and a goatee. The vehicle may have a partial license plate number “4A,” police said.
Using a partial license plate, police can dig through reports and local databases containing information on anybody cited or contacted by the police within the last few years, said San Diego police Detective Garrick Nugent.
Police can also enlist the help of California Department of Motor Vehicles to gather a list of possible suspects based on vehicle information.
“[The databases] often lead to viable leads that often, in turn, lead to righteous arrests,” Nugent said.
Public online databases such as the Automated Regional Justice Information System (ARJIS) can map basic crime statistics by date, location and type of crime. A user name and password, however, give authorities access to additional information.
Along with crime-busting technology like ARJIS, police also rely on help from community to catch suspects like the man who ran over Taylor.
Taylor’s case marks one of many similar incidences in Pacific Beach, and throughout the city, where a driver leaves the scene of an accident after hitting and possibly injuring someone.
The police department’s traffic division reports about 17 hit-and-run injury accidents in the city and more than 5,000 reports of someone damaging property or causing a minor injury and driving away ” a misdemeanor crime, according to police.
Not including the assault on Taylor, Pacific and Mission Beach communities saw three accidents that seriously injured victims.
Some cases remain open.
Police said a female driving in a 2000 or 2002 Nissan Maxima hit and seriously injured two young women at the intersection of Cass Street and Garnet Avenue Friday, August 10, at about 10 p.m.
The driver and a female passenger fled the scene after the accident, according to police.
“We are still looking for any information on this accident,” SDPD Sgt. Jeff Fellows said, “We are continuing our investigation and would appreciate any assistance,”
Because of the time and location of the incident, police said the driver might have been intoxicated. Anybody with information on the case can call Det. Suzi Huntington at (858) 495-7812.
Leaving the scene of accident that causes injury carries a felony charge for the driver. A drunk driver might take a gamble and leave the scene to avoid getting caught, but if found, the driver can be charged with an additional felony, according to police.
“Is [leaving] better or worse? I can’t say, but I can tell you that it presents a higher probability that the punishment would be much more severe,” Nugent said.
Though police haven’t found the man who hit Taylor or the young girls, they have caught others.
Heather Renee Lamb pleaded guilty in December to driving intoxicated and causing injury to a victim. A judge sentenced her to one year in a work furlough center for driving onto sand in Mission Beach Sunday, July 29, at about 2 a.m. and seriously injuring 19-year-old Kayla Morrales Alcala. Lamb also hit a dumpster and a parked car on the 700 Block of Ventura Place.
In another incident, an 18-year-old male failed to stop at a stop sign and collided with a vehicle at the intersection of Gresham Street and Loring Street Saturday, June 30, at about 7 p.m. The victim was hospitalized and treated for pelvis fractures, police said.
Witnesses followed the suspects fleeing on foot and alerted police to their location. The driver was charged with felony drunk driving, felony hit and run and other traffic charges, police said.
The most recent hit and run occurred Tuesday, April 1, when two men were hit by a vehicle on the 1300 block of Garnet. Witnesses described the vehicle as a newer silver Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by a male.
One victim, Salvatore Defranco, 21 sustained serious head injuries. The second victim, Damon Seamons, 24 suffered minor cuts and scrapes. Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the driver’s arrest.
Unfortunately, many times the injuries have long-lasting consequences for victims like Taylor.
Taylor, who worked as an industrial appliance technician, is temporarily unemployed and will need to go back to the hospital for multiple surgeries throughout the year, which will cost him up to $100,000 in medical bills. Though he has insurance, it doesn’t cover some costs like the ambulance ride.
After being in a wheelchair for weeks after the accident, he could barely walk a month after the accident. Scars from surgeries still zipper across his knees. He said doctors told him his legs would “never be 100 percent” and that he might need surgery in about 10 to 15 years for knee problems.
Nugent said the case involving Taylor’s attack remains inactive until new information becomes available. Anybody with information can call Nugent at (858) 552-1724.
Anyone with information regarding a hit and run can also call San Diego County Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.