While the number of hit-and-run accidents in San Diego hasn’t increased considerably, the number of fatal hit-and-runs has. One lawmaker is proposing a bill that would help authorities catch the perpetrators.
Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Los Angeles, proposed Friday the creation of a statewide “yellow alert” system — modeled after Amber Alerts — to help catch hit-and-run drivers.
Assembly Bill 47 calls for law enforcement agencies to use the Emergency Alert System to circulate bulletins with descriptions of vehicles involved in a hit-and-run collisions that result in deaths or serious injuries.
“The public is almost always needed to catch those who leave fellow citizens dying on the side of the road, and AB 47 will allow us to do so promptly, before the perpetrator can get away and cover up the evidence,” Gatto said.
Nationwide, less than half of all hit-and-run offenders are caught and, in San Diego, out of the six fatal hit-and-run accidents so far this year, police say only one was solved. In San Diego County, there have been 11 fatal hit-and-run accidents so far in 2014.
The alerts would be similar to Amber Alerts, which are aimed at helping find abducted children.
In Denver, a “Medina Alert” was created in 2012 in the memory of Jose Medina who died in a hit-and-run. Of 17 cases in which Medina Alerts were issued, 13 hit-and-run cases were solved, officials said.
The system is now being instituted across Colorado.
— City News Service contributed to this story
