A local man who allegedly struck a pedestrian on March 3, fled the scene and later tried to hide evidence of the incident was arrested on felony and misdemeanor warrants Wednesday evening after a brief standoff on Oakcliff Street.
Jason Scott Golden, 42, of 307 Oakcliff St., Apt. B, was taken into custody at his residence shortly before 6:30 p.m. and charged with felony counts of leaving the scene of an accident involving personal injury and tampering with physical evidence, each punishable by up to six years in prison, and a misdemeanor count of second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor, punishable by up to one year in jail, because a child was reportedly with him in the car.
Golden, who was also cited for having no proof of insurance, remained in custody Thursday in lieu of a $6,000 bond and is set to appear today in Garland County District Court. According to court records, he was previously convicted of felony counts of breaking or entering and first-degree criminal mischief in 2001 and sentenced to four years' probation.
A probable cause affidavit said that on March 3, shortly before 7:30 p.m., Hot Springs police responded to the area of Albert Pike Road and McClard Street regarding an injury collision where a pedestrian was reportedly struck by a small, black sports car that fled the scene.
The victim was transported by LifeNet to CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs. HSPD Sgt. Joey Williams previously told The Sentinel-Record the victim was reportedly skateboarding at the time of the incident and suffered "pretty severe injuries," including a head injury, and has "a long road to recovery" ahead.
Physical evidence was located and collected at the scene including pieces of an amber-colored lens cover and the suspected vehicle was captured on surveillance video from a nearby business.
Photos of the video were posted on social media and police got an anonymous tip and located a vehicle, a black 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse, that matched the description parked in front of 307 Oakcliff on March 6.
It was noted the right fog light and the right side of the front windshield were both shattered. The damaged portion of the windshield had been covered by black plastic and duct tape "in a possible attempt to disguise the damaged area."
There was also broken glass on the hood and some inside the vehicle and the affidavit notes all the damage was "consistent with the hit and run accident," so the Eclipse was towed to a police department and a search warrant executed.
It was noted there was damage to the right front bumper and the right signal lamp lens. The piece of lens collected by Officer 1st Class Shawn Lowrey at the scene was compared against the portion of the lens still on the vehicle and "it was a match," the affidavit said.
Once the tape was removed, it revealed an area of the windshield that was heavily damaged and consistent "with a head strike from a pedestrian." The damaged area appeared to have been cleaned because there was what appeared to be "pieces of a paper towel or cleaning cloth left on some of the shards of glass."
Just to the right of the damaged area of the windshield there were also areas "that had scuffs on them."
On March 8, Detective S.C. Jones and Cpl. Richard Nunez met with a 7-year-old boy and his mother at the police department. According to the mother, the child was the front-seat passenger in the Eclipse at the time of the collision.
The affidavit notes the shattered windshield was "directly in front of where the juvenile was seated." The juvenile allegedly stated Golden was driving the vehicle that day while he was in the passenger seat "playing on his iPad."
He stated he heard "a loud noise" and saw something hit the windshield. He was asked to draw the damage to the windshield and what he drew was "the size of a football." He also reportedly confirmed the windshield was not damaged before he got in the vehicle. He allegedly said Golden told him "not to tell anybody what had happened."
The mother stated she received a text from Golden on March 3 stating, "I am on the way," when he was heading to her residence with the juvenile around 7:21 p.m. The affidavit notes Golden lives on Oakcliff and the mother lives off Crystal Hill Road "which would have placed Golden in the area of the accident at the time of the accident."
Golden had reportedly told her he did not have insurance on the vehicle since he had recently acquired it. No proof of insurance was located in the vehicle during the execution of the search warrant. The previous owner of the Eclipse was also contacted and confirmed he had recently sold the vehicle to Golden.
A warrant for Golden's arrest was issued on Tuesday and he was taken into custody at his residence Wednesday after a brief standoff.
Jason Scott Golden (Submitted photo)