Fairfield man charged with felony hit-and-run that left 2-year-old dead
A Fairfield man arrested earlier in the week on charges of vehicular manslaughter and a felony hit-and-run that led to the death of his 2-yearold nephew faced a Solano County Superior Court judge Tuesday and was ordered to return to court in the coming days for further arraignment.
Cirilo Martinez Tellez, 32 and an ex-felon, appeared in Judge Carlos R. Gutierrez’s courtroom who ordered him to return for the additional proceedings at 8:30 a.m. March 3 in the Justice Center in Fairfield.
According to police and court records, at about 2 p.m. Sunday, Fairfield police and firefighters responded to reports of a collision in the 1400 block of West Texas Street. Upon arrival, officers found a 2-year-old boy that had been struck by a vehicle.
The boy was taken to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries, police said. The boy was not identified, but police have revealed that Tellez was his uncle.
Martinez Tellez reportedly fled the collision moments afterward but left his vehicle at the scene. Police impounded the vehicle to search for evidence to help with the investigation. Based on witness statements and evidence collected at the scene, police determined that alcohol impairment played a role in the collision.
Police also said they recovered video surveillance footage that captured the direction in which Tellez fled. As the investigation proceeded, with enough evidence to indicate that a crime occurred, police used social media and community alerts to help locate Tellez.
At 6 p.m., police said Tellez returned to the scene and was taken into custody. He was booked into the Solano County Jail on an arrest warrant, and his bail was set at $235,000. Court records on Wednesday indicated that Tellez had not posted bail and apparently remains in custody.
The Solano County District Attorney filed its complaint Tuesday, the day Tellez appeared in court. They also provided the court with his record of arrests and prosecutions or RAP sheet.
Court records also indicated that Tellez was subject to a Ramey Warrant, an arrest warrant that is obtained by a police agency by going directly to a judge and bypassing the district attorney.
Police on Monday said they planned on presenting the case to the District Attorney’s office for review to consider additional charges of murder, violating his probation, and felony DUI resulting in death.
The incident remains under investigation. Fairfield Police Lt. Jausiah Jacobsen said officers want to review events that led up to the crash, including events of the previous day, and whether Tellez had been charged previously with alcohol-related offenses.