Man accused of injuring boy in hit-and-run held on bail

Driver ordered not to get behind wheel, can’t have contact with victim

The driver accused of fleeing last month after hitting and seriously injuring an 11year-old boy as he walked to school was arraigned on Friday in Dorchester District Court and held on $1,000 bail.

Luis Santiago, 27, pleaded not guilty to leaving the scene of an accident causing serious bodily injury. He was ordered to not drive and to have no contact with the victim or witnesses.

The boy’s family declined to comment other than to say they were upset that the bail was not higher.

The victim, fifth-grader Francis Nedwell, was walking to school on Sept. 29 with his 13-year-old sister and another child at Columbia Road and Intervale Street when the white SUV Santiago allegedly was driving hit the boy with such force that it threw him two car lengths, pinning him under another vehicle, Assistant District Attorney Amanda Cascione said.

“The defendant could have stopped on this day. He could have stopped, and he could have parked his car after he struck something,” Cascione said. “And he didn’t.”

The victim was released from Boston Children’s Hospital on Thursday after undergoing three surgeries for injuries including six broken ribs, a broken pelvis and a lacerated liver.

Cascione argued that bail was necessary because Santiago previously had defaulted on his bail in another instance, and she asked that his bail be revoked on an unrelated, open case for unlawful possession of a firearm — a request that was granted.

“He was fully aware that the commonwealth was requesting that his release on the prior matter be revoked,” his attorney, Lawrence Kelly, said. “He appeared nonetheless.”