Hit-and-Run Suspect Has Troubled Past

Scott Lindner reportedly went on one wild ride last weekend, including three crashes and multiple assault of his female companion. But Lindner's young life has taken one tumultuous turn after another in recent years.

The 22-year-old Strawberry resident was arrested last Sunday and charged with driving under the influence, a felony parole violation and inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant, according to police. If Lindner is convicted, he will likely head back to state prison, where he spent more than two years after pleading no-contest to vehicular manslaughter and sexual assault charges in Truckee in 2007.

"I had heard that he came out of prison quite improved," said William Cornell, the Nevada County deputy district attorney who prosecuted Lindner's case in 2007. "Word was that the best thing that might've happened to Scott was to go to prison and that he basically grew up a lot. But this certainly doesn't bode well."

Lindner remains in custody on $25,000 bail. His attorney, Christopher Cannon of San Francisco, sought and received a delay before Lindner enters a plea in the case, which will resume with a hearing on Oct. 18.

According to the California Highway Patrol, Lindner was arrested early Sunday morning, after crashing his car for the final time, in the 7400 block of Sir Francis Drake Blvd., between the entrance to Samuel P. Taylor State Park and the town of Lagunitas. He had been on a self-propelled rollercoaster ride to that point, police said.

According to the CHP report, Lindner and a 20-year-old woman from Mill Valley argued late Saturday night or early Sunday morning at the Olema Campground before getting into a 2010 Honda Accord and driving away.

Before exiting the campground, Lindner struck a parked truck and then veered into a metal pole that was part of a propane tank enclosure. The woman, whose name was not released, was ejected from the car and suffered minor injuries.

That was only the beginning of the jaunt. The woman decided to get back in the car. Lindner then drove along Highway 1 to Sir Francis Drake, then headed east for eight miles, the CHP said. During the drive, Lindner assaulted his passenger, causing additional injuries, according to the report.

As he passed the entrance to the state park, Lindner struck a curb and lost control of the Honda, blocking the eastbound lane, at 2:48am. He and the unidentified woman were taken to a nearby hospital, Lindner to have his blood alcohol level tested and the woman to receive treatment for multiple lacerations to her face and back.

Lindner's 2007 convictions stem from a series of incidents in Truckee, where his adopted parents, then residents of Ross and now of Mill Valley, have a home. Then 18, Lindner was convicted of vehicular manslaughter in the death of Keith Stewart, a 19-year-old man he ran down with his SUV after a summer concert in Truckee. In the police investigation, it was revealed that Lindner had sexual contact with two of the witnesses, a 13-year-old girl and a 17-year-old girl.

During the course of the trial, Cornell said, it was revealed that the Lindner was severely abused as a child and taken from his abusive parents by the courts. He was adopted by a Ross couple, which also has three other adopted children.

"For an adopted kid, he hit the jackpot," Cornell said. "They've treated him as their own and really stuck by him."

The case dated back to August 2006, when Lindner got his parents' SUV stuck on a berm at an outdoor party. Some of the local teens, including Stewart, taunted Lindner for stranding his parents' car, and a fight ensued. Stewart got the better of Lindner by a long shot, according the criminal complaint filed against Lindner.

The men would meet again 10 days later while leaving a concert at Truckee River Regional Park. Stewart and his friends approached Lindner's SUV aggressively, and Lindner, still recovering from his injuries in the previous fight, pressed the gas pedal.

"He panicked," Cornell said. "Rather than proceed slowly, he gases it and drives over the guy and kills him."

The SUV struck and killed Stewart, and Lindner fled the scene. He later called police and surrendered. As Truckee investigators interviewed young witnesses, they learned Lindner had dated the 17-year-old girl and the 13-year-old girl and had consensual sex with them. That led to charges of felony unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl and misdemeanor unlawful sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old girl.

Lindner was released on parole from Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, Calif., in February 2009.