Man Arrested In Hit-And-Run That Injured Boy In Rancho Cordova
RANCHO CORDOVA (CBS13) —A 19-year old man is behind bars after a hit-and-run that sent a young boy to the hospital.
Geanini Fota turned himself into the Rancho Cordova Police Department around 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies say Fota struck an 11-year-old boy on Mills Park Drive and Croetto Way, as the boy was riding his toy motorcycle. The boy was taken to the hospital with major injuries.
"He was purple and pale had no pulse," said Gustavo Perez.
Perez was the first witness to rush over to the young victim.
"I did CPR for a few minutes and got a pulse back," said Perez.
Perez is a respiratory therapist at a local hospital and says his training kicked in as soon as he heard the crash.
"The instinct, it's what I was trained to do," he said.
Perez says once he revived the 11-year old, his parents placed him in their car. That's when he says other witnesses stepped in.
"My office manager said come quick, quick, and I just ran across the street and found the boy," said Zachary Smith.
Smith works across the way at a medical clinic. He ran to the scene with his office manager, who he says performed another round of CPR on the young boy.
"I climbed to the back of the SUV, and I picked up the boy, I ran him over to the fire department and told them what happened," Smith said.
"He had some major injuries, broken bones," said Sgt. Shaun Hampton of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.
Deputies say the young boy was riding a toy motorcycle along Croetto Way and Mills Park Drive when he was hit by a KIA minivan, driven by Fota.
"Upon being struck, the driver of the vehicle fled from the scene on foot, leaving his vehicle here at the scene," said the Sheriff's spokesman.
The white scrapes on the street mark where the young boy's motorcycle was pushed during the crash. A cracked motorcycle — the young boy taking most of the impact.
"I'm just hoping he makes it, we have been praying all night long," said Smith.
Sheriff's deputies say if it wasn't for Perez, Smith and the office manager performing CPR, the boy might not have made it to the hospital in time.