Hit-run pickup that ran down woman in Encinitas is focus of search

Sheriff’s investigators have identified — but not yet found — the pickup used when a driver critically injured a woman in Encinitas on Sept. 22.

They are asking for the public’s help in finding the white Ford F-150 Platinum Edition truck with California license plate number 835224A2.

Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.

The driver, described only as a white man possibly in his 40s, ran down Ashley Mullins Lane, 33, of Oceanside, while she was walking across Encinitas Boulevard toward a train station.

Lane was crossing mid-block near South Coast Highway 101 about 7:30 p.m. when she was struck by the westbound pickup. Witnesses told authorities the driver stopped, got out of his truck to look, and told those nearby that the woman appeared to be OK. Then he drove off.

Lane has remained at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, where she was put in a medically-induced coma with critical spine, head, pelvic and other injuries. Her father, Roger Mullins of Encinitas, said in an interview that his daughter also suffered a ruptured spleen, a stroke, and is paralyzed on her left side.

He said she was leaving work, at Lazy Acres market, and heading home when she was hit by the truck. She has two daughters, ages 12 and 13.

Family members have set up a GoFundMe account to raise money for Lane’s medical bills. Her father said she had just lost her Medi-Cal insurance and had not yet submitted papers to join her employer’s health plan. As of Saturday, Sept. 30, donations had topped $30,000.

Anyone with information about the driver or pickup can call the sheriff’s North Coastal Station traffic investigators at (760) 966-3544 or Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (888) 580-8477.

--Pauline Repard is a writer for The San Diego Union-Tribune