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Man Arrested Following Fatal Hit & Run in Jamestown

by Nikki Gaskins Campbell
Pictured: Mario Alberto Tinajero-Baeza (VIA BERKELEY COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.–Two days after a fatal hit and run that left an elderly man dead, troopers with the South Carolina Highway Patrol say they have arrested a person in connection with the incident.

Mario Alberto Tinajero-Baeza, 34, of St. Stephen, was arrested Saturday, May 25. He’s charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.

Investigators believe that Tinajero-Baeza hit 63-year-old Alton Hawkins, Jr. with his car near 3830 North Highway 17A in Jamestown and then fled the location.

Troopers say Hawkins was a pedestrian walking along the highway when he was fatally struck.

The Berkeley County Coroner’s Office pronounced Hawkins dead on the scene.

This is not Tinajero-Baeza’s first run-in with the law. Court records show that last year the Moncks Corner Police Department arrested him for DUI in the first degree and for having an open container of alcohol in his motor vehicle.

In March 2019, Tinajero-Baeza also made headlines when he was mistakenly released from the Hill-Finklea Detention Center.

At the time, Tinajero-Baeza was being held at the jail on a fugitive drug warrant from Florence County. The jailer who released Tinajero-Baeza was eventually fired and Tinajero-Baeza was charged with escaping, according to court records.

That case is still pending in court, but Tinajero-Baeza’s bond for the escape charge was set at $75,000.

Tinajero-Baeza is currently back behind bars awaiting a bond hearing for the hit and run charge.

PRIOR STORY:

Pedestrian Killed During Hit and Run in Jamestown
Nikki Gaskins Campbell
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