Man arrested after allegedly running away from serious crash and leaving injured woman behind

POCATELLO — A Pocatello man was arrested after he reportedly left the scene of a crash that police say he caused, which injured a woman.

Dillon Cerino is charged with two counts of felony leaving the scene of an injury accident. In another case, he is also charged with one count of felony grand theft in relation to the crash.

EastIdahoNews.com has reached out to the Bannock County Public Defender’s Office for comment, and we were told that Cerino has not yet been assigned an attorney. We will update if we can get in touch with his attorney as the court process continues.

According to police reports, Pocatello Police officers responded on May 13, around 7:51 p.m., to the intersection of Flandro Drive and Yellowstone Avenue for a reported hit-and-run injury crash.

Dispatch was reportedly told that after the crash, a man had fled from the scene. He was described as “being heavy set, wearing black pants and a black shirt, and was near the area of Firehouse Subs, in the parking lot.”

When officers found the man, he was allegedly in a physical fight with multiple people, who were witnesses to the crash, and were trying to keep the man from fleeing. Officers detained him and identified him as Cerino.

At the scene, police met with two Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents, who stated that a red Dodge pickup truck had hit a white truck head-on while crossing the intersection. Witnesses said Cerino was in the red truck, and reportedly “bailed”, running west toward the NOP overpass.

Some witnesses stated that Cerino was the driver and ran from the truck with a woman, described as “having blond or brunette hair and wearing a red or pink shirt.” Police reports do not identify the woman, and it is unclear whether she was charged in connection with the incident.

Another witness told police that she also saw two people run from the truck and that she and another witness followed them to the Costco parking lot. One of the witnesses caught up to the people fleeing the scene, so the other witness says she went back to see if anyone needed help.

The victim in the white car was identified as an adult woman and her two small children. The woman reportedly had cuts on her left hand and a possible arm fracture.

EMS reportedly stated that one of the children had small abrasions on his neck, but it was not believed to be a serious injury. The woman was then transported to Portneuf Medical Center for further treatment on her arm.

Cerino was also transported to Portneuf Medical Center due to injuries sustained in the crash, but it is not clear what his injuries were or if they were serious.

According to court documents, medical staff reportedly found a “tooter”, a common piece of drug paraphernalia, in the bed they transferred Cerino from at the hospital. Police say there was a “white powdery substance” inside the “tooter” that they believed to be some kind of narcotic, so the substance was sent for testing. The results are not yet available.

At around 10:07 p.m., police responded to a medical call for a woman who had reportedly sustained a serious injury while involved in a car crash earlier that day. When they arrived, the woman admitted she was “one of the passengers” who fled the crash. She also told police that Cerino was the driver of the red truck when it crashed.

The woman reportedly suffered a “serious laceration to her right leg during the crash that required immediate medical care.” She was then transported to Portneuf Medical Center. Cerino was arrested and booked into the Bannock County Jail with a $25,000 bond.

The next day, officers learned that the red truck had been reported as stolen by its registered owner. According to police reports, a man reported that he returned home from out of state and saw that his truck was gone.

The man stated that Cerino had asked to borrow his truck at one point, and he told him no. Cerino reportedly later stole the keys from the man’s jacket and took the truck.

Officers spoke to Cerino at the jail, who claimed he did not know the truck’s owner, but that the man “threw” the keys at him and told him to give it a test drive. Cerino reportedly said that he drove the truck for “most of the day” before the accident. He claimed that he “did not know when he had to give the truck back” and that he had “no way to contact the owner.”

Cerino is expected to appear for a preliminary hearing on May 27. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000.

Though Cerino has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.