Union City hit-and-run driver jailed

A man who struck and killed a 75-year-old woman in a hit-and-run collision in Union City on Tuesday night returned to the scene a short time later and turned himself in to police, authorities said in court documents.

The female pedestrian, identified by police Thursday as Wan Huang of Union City was walking across Alvarado-Niles Road in a crosswalk near Mann Avenue at about 9 p.m. on Tuesday when a red 2004 GMC pickup truck allegedly being driven by 29-year-old Mike Simon Tanios of Fremont hit her.

Huang was pronounced dead at the scene.

Union City police Officer Ronny Ziya wrote in a probable cause statement that the pickup truck driver did not stop to check on Huang and immediately fled the scene.

About 20 minutes after the collision a police dispatcher received a call from a man who said his brother had “hit a lady and left” and that they were on their way back to the scene, Ziya said.

A short time later Tanios arrived at the scene with several other people and identified himself as the driver of the vehicle that hit Huang, according to Ziya.

Tanios told police that he was driving his pickup truck east on Alvarado-Niles Road on his way home from work and had a green light when he approached the intersection with Mann Avenue but Huang stepped off the center median into his path when he was only 10 or 15 feet away, Ziya wrote.

Tanios “was unable to avoid the collision” and collided with Huang, Ziya said.

After the collision, Tanios “panicked and fled the scene,” according to Ziya.

Officers who examined Tanios’ pickup truck determined that it had damage to its front hood, grill and front bumper that was consistent with damage that was caused by the collision, Ziya wrote.

In addition, the pickup was missing the “G” from the GMC logo on its front grill, Ziya said. That “G” was found in the debris at the collision scene, he said.

Tanios admitted that he was the driver of the pickup, which was his work vehicle, at the time of the collision and that he left the scene, according to Ziya.

The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office charged Tanios today with felony leaving the scene of an accident.

Tanios is being held at the Fremont City Jail in lieu of $5,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned in Alameda County Superior Court in Dublin next Tuesday.