Yeats

Defendant was convicted by a jury in the Riverside Superior Court of violating Vehicle Code section 20001 (hit and run with injuries). He was sentenced to prison and appeals.

The facts relevant to this appeal are as follows: At 10:30 p.m. on August 30, 1982, Riverside Deputy Sheriff Preston was on duty and driving a marked patrol car. At the intersection of Markham and Date his car was struck at a high rate of speed by a green Buick which had run a stop sign controlling traffic on Date Street. The Buick was disabled by the accident. Its driver got out of the car, talked momentarily to the deputy, then fled on foot. As a result of the accident Deputy Preston suffered four broken ribs and a punctured lung.

The only issue in the case was the identity of the driver of the green Buick. The evidence showed that it was owned by the defendant’s mother. The only witness positively identifying defendant as the driver was Deputy Preston, who picked the defendant out of a pretrial photographic lineup and who positively identified defendant in court. Preston’s identification was based on a fleeting glimpse before the accident and a contact of some 10 to 15 seconds after the…