Driver arrested in fatal hit-and-run Driver arrested in fatal hit-and-run (August 06, 2004)

Passenger died in crash at Hwys. 101, 237

By David Herbert

Mountain View resident Joshua Aragon was arrested July 28 after he led police to his crashed car off the northbound lane of Highway 101 where his deceased passenger, Kristina Hamill of Los Gatos, lay.

Police allege Aragon, 22, was intoxicated at the time of the crash, when he failed to negotiate a turn at the Highway 101 northbound transition to Highway 237 and sent his 1991 Cadillac El Dorado careening off an embankment. The car eventually overturned and struck a tree before coming to a stop on its wheels, according to the California Highway Patrol.

According to CHP, Aragon left the crash site drunk and confused and fled on foot to Moffett Field, where he was picked up by a Moffett police officer and a Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office deputy. Because he had numerous cuts on his face, authorities transported him to El Camino Hospital by ambulance, cited him for public intoxication and then released him. At no point, however, did Aragon mention the crash or the possibility that he had been carrying a passenger.

After being released, Aragon called his father, Gilbert Aragon of Mountain View, and told him that he thought he may have been in an accident and that there may have been a passenger. Aragon's father then contacted Mountain View police at 7:50 a.m. the following day, according to Mountain View police spokesperson Jim Bennett, and relayed this information.

Mountain View police officers escorted Joshua Aragon to the area he described, whereupon the wrecked car was found, along with the dead body of Hamill, 23, which had been ejected from the car. Mountain View police contacted CHP, Bennett said, which arrived at the scene and arrested Aragon on felony DUI, felony hit-and-run and manslaughter charges.

E-mail David Herbert at dherbert@mv-voice.com

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