Deputies arrest hit-and-run suspect in San Marcos accused of seriously injuring teenager on e-bike

Jonathan Ramos enjoyed playing basketball with his friends, lifting weights, and eating organic food. He was a happy and healthy 16-year-old.

That's why it's all the more difficult for mother Maria Martinez to see her son lying sedated in a hospital bed with a breathing tube down his throat after he was struck in an apparent hit-and-run accident in San Marcos last week while riding his bicycle.

“I wish I could trade places with him and take away his pain,” Martinez said Wednesday.

Jonathan was riding his e-bike on Mission Road near Knoll Road when he was struck by a white pickup truck around 9 p.m. on Sept. 19, the sheriff's office said. The driver fled the scene before officers arrived.

In the days that followed, officers received a tip on the pickup's location and found it at a home less than two miles from the crash scene, officials said. Deputy Jerry Dana said an attempt was made to cover up damage to the truck's body, but debris left at the crash scene was consistent with the truck.

On Monday, the suspected driver, a 23-year-old man, turned himself in to the sheriff's office on the advice of his attorney, investigators said.

He was booked into Vista Jail on charges of hit-and-run causing personal injury and reckless driving causing serious injury. His arraignment in Vista Superior Court is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

Martinez said that while she was relieved that an arrest had been made, she was upset that it took the suspected driver nearly six days to turn himself in and that his attorney advised him to do so.

“We all make mistakes and we take responsibility for those mistakes,” Martinez said. “But the driver did not stop.”

The night of the incident, Martinez said, Jonathan called her from a friend's house and asked if it would be OK if he and a few friends went to IHOP together. The single mother, who was home with her two other children, said it was OK but reminded him that it was a school day.

“He’s a really respectful kid,” Martinez said.

At around 9 p.m., she answered another call from her son's phone – but was surprised when she recognized the voice on the other end.

“A man said, 'Ma'am, your son was hit by a car,'” Martinez said. She later learned that the man was from her neighborhood and the father of one of her son's friends.

Martinez said it only took her about a minute to get to the scene, but deputies and paramedics had already arrived.

When she was led to her son, she found him lying unconscious and covered in blood on the ground while paramedics cut open his clothes to examine his wounds. His bike, shoes and the contents of his backpack were scattered on the street.

An officer told her that her son had been hit by a truck traveling at 80 miles per hour on the city street.

“I just wanted to pick him up, hold him and help him,” Martinez said. “But a sheriff said, 'Don't touch him, leave him alone.'”

Jonathan was rushed to hospital with numerous broken bones, internal bleeding and organ damage – particularly liver, spleen and lung damage. He underwent immediate surgery.

Since the collision, Jonathan has had a tube to help him breathe while another pumps fluid from his lungs. Although he was originally in a coma, he has since woken up, Martinez said. But her normally “cheerful and friendly” son is confused and aggressive because of the painkillers he is taking.

Martinez's family says doctors have told them he will be able to breathe on his own in the next few days and his medications will be reduced. While they believe these are all good signs, Martinez knows he still has a long road to recovery ahead of him, which includes therapy and surgery.

“He's really strong, he's really young … but it's going to be months,” Martinez said. “But I'm grateful to still have him and I'm not making any plans for anything else.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up to raise money for medical expenses and to support Jonathan's family.