Suspect in Fatal San Leandro Hit-And-Run Charged, Has Extensive Criminal History

A construction worker with an extensive criminal history has been charged with murder for allegedly hitting and killing a 14-year-old boy crossing the street near San Leandro last week as he fled from Alameda County sheriff’s deputies, according to court records.

In addition to the murder charge, 34-year-old Sonny Anderson is charged with evading an officer causing death, evading an officer against traffic and leaving the scene of the crash at 6:19 p.m. last Tuesday at East 14th Street and Ashland Avenue, prosecutors said. Anderson was arrested in Newark on Wednesday on unrelated warrants but was not booked on the crash charges until Monday. He has a long criminal history dating back to 1999, when he was convicted of two counts of animal cruelty for breaking into and mutilating several animals in a Hayward petting zoo.

A sheriff’s deputy initially tried to stop the maroon 2001 Saturn later connected to Anderson for driving recklessly with a broken taillight near the corner of East 14th Street and 164th Avenue last Tuesday, but the driver refused to stop and ran through stop signs and red lights trying to evade the deputy, according to court documents filed by sheriff’s Sgt. Kenneth Gemmell. The driver was going 60 mph, well over the 25 or 30 mph speed limit on the streets there, then drifted into the opposite lanes going the wrong way on East 14th Street, nearly causing two head-on collisions, Gemmell wrote.

The deputy lost sight of the Saturn, but then saw it fishtailing on East 14th Street just past Ashland Avenue. It had just hit 14-year-old Ivan Cruz of San Leandro as he was crossing the street in a marked crosswalk riding a Razor scooter. Ivan was thrown 80 feet onto the road while the Saturn driver kept going. Another deputy called for medical assistance and Ivan was taken to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, but died about 30 minutes later, Gemmell wrote.

The Saturn was found abandoned off of Interstate Highway 880 in Fremont just before 7 p.m. and was impounded as evidence. Investigators tracked down the Saturn’s owner, a relative of Anderson’s, who said Anderson had been using it for the last several months and saw him with it about two hours before the crash. Anderson was also connected to the crash scene through video surveillance, cellphone records and witness accounts. He was arrested and held Wednesday on outstanding warrants but was not booked on the charges relating to the crash until Monday.

Previous: Newark Man, 34, Arrested in Hit-And-Run That Killed Teen

Anderson has prior convictions for vehicle theft in 2012 and 2005, for burglary in 2006, for theft from a dependent adult and receiving stolen property in 2009, and the two counts of animal abuse for breaking into the Triple Pines Ranch Animal Farm in 1999 and stabbing a pony, a goat, a chicken, a goose and two turkeys. He is being held without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned on the crash charges this afternoon.

By Bay City News