News

Hit-and-run driver charged with death of 3-year-old riding a tricycle

Aaron Santiso

By Lightning Reports, Published: August 24, 2021

Henderson County sheriff's deputies charged a hit-and-run driver with the death of a 3-year-old after the child was struck while riding a tricycle on Pleasant Court between Oak Grove and East Blue Ridge roads.

The sheriff's office received a 911 call about 6 p.m. Saturday about the incident. While deputies and first responders were en route to the scene, dispatchers reported a description of the vehicle and driver who struck the child and fled the scene. First responders arrived on the scene within five minutes of the initial call but found the 3-year-old girl deceased.

The North Carolina Highway Patrol and the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office began working together at the scene of the hit-and-run, calling on all available resources to locate the hit-and-run driver. Shortly after receiving the hit-and-run information, a Henderson County deputy stopped a vehicle matching the suspect vehicle just north of the South Carolina state line on the U.S. 25 connector.

The suspect, Aaron Santiso, 30, of Flat Rock, was detained and returned to the scene of the hit-and-run. Santiso was charged by the North Carolina State Highway Patrol with one count of felony hit and run with injury or death, one count of felony death by vehicle and one count of driving while impaired. Santos was jailed under a $1 million bond. The investigation by the Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigation Division and North Carolina State Highway Patrol continues with further charges possible.