Hearing Begins in Fatal Hit-and-Run

Three people testified at a preliminary hearing Tuesday in the hit-and-run death last spring of an 18-year-old Chatsworth High School student.

Dominique Rush, 23 at the time of the incident, is being held on suspicion of gross vehicle manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident that took the life of who was riding a bicycle in Canoga Park with a friend at about 9 p.m. April 20.

If convicted, Rush, who attended the preliminary hearing dressed in a jailhouse orange jumpsuit, could face five years in state prison. She has been incarcerated since her arrest on Aug. 11 in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Her father, , 44, of Porter Ranch, has been charged with felony accessory after the fact.

A friend of the victim, Pedro Arias, told Judge Jessica Perrin Silvers of Van Nuys Superior Court that the car that hit and killed his friend came quickly.

A friend of Dominique Rush testified that the two had dinner and a few drinks at a TGI Friday’s restaurant before the accident. The friend, Rachael Fields, said Dominique Rush then began to follow her back to her house in a separate car.

The fatal accident occurred on De Soto Avenue near Valerio Street. Romero was pronounced dead at the scene. Arias was not injured.

A tow truck driver testified he picked up a car matching the color of Rush’s vehicle and drove it to another location. He did not testify that the man who he saw at the time was Steven Rush, according to Deputy District Attorney Marcus Musante.

Musante said an eyewitness is scheduled to testify in the case when the preliminary hearing continues on Jan. 27.

The LAPD spent four months tracking down the owner of the car, which they said had been hidden out of town.

Musante said police detectives discovered that Rush was texting Rachael Fields sometime before the accident, and that the detectives will also be testifying on Jan. 27.

Rush is being held at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood.