A mistrial was declared on Tuesday in the criminal proceedings against the driver, 39-year-old Corundolus Toussaint, who killed UC San Diego student Andres Perkins on Interstate 5 last year in an alleged hit-and-run. Toussaint was charged with one felony count after he struck Perkins, who had run into the far left lane near Old Town, and subsequently drove away.  

The incident occurred on Feb. 24, and Toussaint turned himself into San Diego police two days after.

Divided 6–6, the jury could not agree on a verdict and declared a mistrial.

According to Times of San Diego, Deputy District Attorney Karra Reedy said Perkins, who was running across the freeway around 2:45 a.m., was killed “almost instantaneously” when Toussaint hit him. No explanation was offered as to why he had entered the freeway.

Defense Attorney Manuel Avitia said Toussaint was “confused, disoriented and disabled” in the moment, but the reason behind Tousssaint’s inattention was also not explained.

Near the crash scene, the police found a license plate which indicated that the car was owned by Toussaint’s girlfriend, who was possibly also in the vehicle at the time of the incident. The car itself was located by police two hours later at a Shell gas station a few miles away from the crash where it had been abandoned. The prosecutors reported the surveillance video from the gas station showed Toussaint and a woman went out of the vehicle and took a ride from an unknown person about 30 minutes later.

Currently, Toussaint remains held on $140,000 bail. The prosecutors have not yet made a decision on whether they plan to retry Toussaint or not.