May 15, 2008

Parolee arrested in hit-and-run case

By Michael Manekin / Bay Area News Group

The 28-year-old parolee accused in a fatal hit-and-run accident last week in Daly City had only recently been released from prison on charges related to shooting a man point-blank in the face in the state of Arkansas, police said Wednesday.

Russell Randall Real, of Daly City, was visiting family in Little Rock in 2001 when he shot his victim at a mini-market, according to a Bay Area law enforcement official. Real told police he thought his victim was a gang member from California and said he felt threatened enough to shoot the man, the official said.

After serving about six years in an Arkansas prison on charges of first-degree battery, Real was released last summer, the official said. He stayed out of trouble until May 6, when he allegedly committed the fatal hit-and-run accident in Daly City.

Arkansas law enforcement officials were not available Wednesday to provide further details about the shooting, including whether the victim survived the assault.

On the night of May 6, Real was driving his late-model Ford Bronco in Daly City when he ignored a stop sign and sped through the intersection of Bellevue Avenue and Oliver Street, ramming his sport utility vehicle into a Dodge pickup truck, according to police.

The pickup was crushed, and its driver, 57-year-old James Allen Martin, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Real fled to Silver Springs, Nev., following the crash, where he was contacted on the phone by law enforcement officials, who told him to return to California, police said. Authorities in Arkansas had already issued a warrant for Real's arrest, and he turned up in Daly City on Tuesday morning - one week after the accident.

Real was spotted by Daly City police Det. Greg Oglesby only two blocks away from the police station. The detective said he was walking back from an early lunch when he recognized Real's face from the arrest warrant. Real told the detective that he was on his way to visit with a lawyer.

"He actually was on his way to meet with his attorney, as it turns out, but I wasn't about to take a chance and let him go," Oglesby said. "This has happened to me many times in the past, where suspects are supposed to meet with their attorneys and turn themselves in. But they get cold feet because they realize they're going to go to jail."

Real appeared in court Wednesday sporting a Mohawk and an orange jail uniform. He is charged with vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and felony hit-and-run.

Real has told police that the accident was the result of a malfunction in his Bronco, prosecutors said. He ran away from the scene of the accident because he is on parole, according to the District Attorney's Office.

He remains in custody in lieu of $250,000 bail and is expected to return to court on May 23 to set a preliminary hearing date.