Driver held on $1.5M bail in fatal Oceanside crash

An Oceanside woman suspected of driving drunk and fatally striking a pedestrian, then abandoning her car a mile away with the body still in the windshield, was being held Tuesday on $1.5 million bail.

Esteysi “Stacy” Sanchez, 29, is set to be arraigned Wednesday in Vista Superior Court.

Police say she was driving east on Mission Avenue just west of Academy Road about 6:20 a.m. Monday when she ran off the road and hit a 69-year-old Oceanside man walking on the sidewalk. The impact sent the victim through the windshield and partly onto the passenger seat, but driver continued on until she arrived at Magdalena Drive, near Avenida Del Gado, authorities said.

Neighbors said Tuesday that they saw the female driver leave the vehicle and walk north on Magdalena.

“I was horrified,” said Elvia Esparza, who lives in a home on Magdalena just a short distance from where the car stopped.

Esparza said she heard a strange noise, like a “car dragging something,” and walked out of her home to see what was going on. She said she stood just outside her door and saw the car with a broken windshield and a woman wearing a black dress and silver high heel shoes.

“I asked her, ‘What happened?’” Esparza said. “She said, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know.”

Esparza said the woman had a cell phone held to her head as if she was calling someone. She said the woman’s feet wobbled as she walked along the street.

Esparza said her teenage son went over to the car and discovered the body, and told her to call 911. She said she handed the phone to her son to describe the scene because she was too frightened to look.

Another neighbor, who did not want to be identified, said other residents had seen the same driver speeding in the area before and one had even warned her to slow down. He said the normally quiet, working-class neighborhood was shocked by the incident.

When officers arrived on the scene Monday morning they discovered the body in the passenger’s seat with “obvious major injuries,” Oceanside police spokesman Ryan Keim said. He was pronounced dead after paramedics arrived.

The victim’s name has not been released pending notification of his family.

Keim said police received a call Monday morning from Sanchez’ live-in boyfriend, who reported the incident. Officers went to a home on Avenida del Gado, just two blocks from where the vehicle was found and arrested Sanchez.

Based on their investigation, police determined that Sanchez was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash, Keim said.

She was being held Tuesday at the Las Colinas Detention Facility in Santee on various charges including felony DUI, felony hit and run and vehicular manslaughter, according to the Sheriff’s Department website.

A makeshift memorial with a heart-shaped balloon, flowers and candles was placed on the street Tuesday near where the crash occurred.

The Police Department’s Major Accident Investigation Team is investigating the incident. Anyone who witnessed the collision or has information about it is encouraged to call the department at (760) 435-4911.