
OAKLAND — A man with two prior driving under the influence convictions has been charged with murder and other crimes in the July 13 alcohol related hit-and-run death of a 76-year-old woman who was visiting Oakland from Louisiana, according to court records and authorities.
The suspect, 40-year-old Jeremiah Mendoza, of Oakland, is also charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated with a prior conviction, driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury, driving with a .08 percent blood alcohol level or higher causing injury and leaving the scene of an accident. Mendoza, who was arrested a few hours after the fatal collision, is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail and is scheduled to enter a plea Aug. 7.
According to court records, Mendoza has two prior misdemeanor convictions related to driving under the influence. One was in September 2012 for driving under the influence of alcohol and the other was in April 2013 for driving a vehicle which a blood alcohol content of .08 percent or higher. No other information about those convictions was immediately available.
Killed in the collision, that happened about 8:40 a.m. July 13 at the intersection of Fruitvale Avenue and East 27th Street was Darlene Scalf, a retired school teacher who lived in Louisiana, authorities said. She was in Oakland visiting relatives who live not far from the intersection, police said.
Police said she was crossing the marked intersection when she was struck by a Toyota Tacoma pickup truck that was making a westbound turn onto East 27th Street from the northbound lanes of Fruitvale Avenue. She was taken to a hospital where she later died.
Mendoza, the alleged driver, fled in the vehicle. He was arrested a few hours later at a gas station on 35h Avenue, after investigators used traffic surveillance cameras to track the vehicle. Officers could smell alcohol emanating from his body, he showed visible signs of being under the influence and an open can of beer was found inside the truck, according to court records.
A field sobriety test found his blood/alcohol content to be 0.162 percent, according to the records.