Man who hit, killed college student visiting Myrtle Beach won’t serve time. Here’s why
A Myrtle Beach man won’t spend any time in jail for a hit-and-run accident last year that killed a college student visiting the city.
The decision to reduce the original charges against Jason Sauro, which could have had him serve up to 25 years in prison if convicted, has been questioned, including the fact that Sauro has previous traffic incidents dating back to 2006 in Horry County.
A message left for Sauro’s attorney Monday was not returned.
Sauro was charged by Myrtle Beach Police on May 1, 2023, the day after the hit and run accident that killed Jackson Yelle, a 21-year-old student at Elon University who was trying to cross the road at U.S. 17 Bypass north of 21st Avenue North. Yelle was in Myrtle Beach on a weekend trip with other baseball teammates at the time of the accident.
Scott Yelle, Jackson’s father, said that the family did make impact statements in person during the hearings, but he feels like it was never about his son. Instead, it was what the prosecution wanted in the case.
Yelle said Wednesay that the victim advocate had told him that Sauro had pleaded guilty, but it wasn’t until 10 minutes before the sentencing on July 10 that he and his wife, Andrea, found out that it was to a different charge. The couple thought it sounded like a good thing because it was still a felony and it would be up to 10 years. But it was only after that they found out that he would serve no time at all.
Sauro’s charges were reduced from hit and run involved in accident with death to first-degree assault and battery, a felony, according to the Public Index. He was sentenced July 10, 2024, to 10 years of probation which was suspended. He will have to undergo five years of random drug and alcohol testing.
“We feel like we’ve been given a life sentence regardless,” Andrea Yelle said. “We watched the video. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare and then to see it on video. You can imagine, I don’t know what the words are. To have a sentence like this on what you just saw ... he was left in a ditch.”
Sauro has traffic incidents dating back to 2006 in Horry County, which include such charges as reckless driving, having an open container of beer or alcohol in the vehicle and driving on the wrong side of road or improper lane shift, according to the Public Index. None of those incidents were criminal. In all cases, he received a fine for the offenses.
Prosecutors recognized that the hit and run charge would be a difficult case to prove, according to 15th Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson.
“He clearly ran over him and left him,” Richardson said. However, he said that the criminal part of it is that prosecutors had to prove that Sauro knew that he hit something and intentionally left.
Sauro is legally deaf, Richardson said. In addition, video of the accident showed that Sauro didn’t slow down or touch his brakes, but he wasn’t speeding or driving reckless, Richardson said.
The decision was made to reduce the charges so the family would get some type of conviction in the case, Richardson said.
Sauro told police at the time of his arrest that he thought he had hit a deer, according to a police report. Yelle was struck by Sauro at 1:30 a.m. while he was trying to cross the highway on foot. His body was discovered at 7:24 a.m. beside the highway.
The Yelles said that their son was walking along the roadway and not trying to cross it. He had been out with his friends and they don’t know where he was going.
Scott Yelle said they are disappointed and bitter about the legal system. Scott was 6 foot 2 inches and it’s hard to believe Sauro didn’t feel that he had hit her son, Andrea Yelle said. “There’s no way,” she said.
The family is now trying to focus on the positive and move forward, focusing on the foundation they created in their son’s name. The Jackson Yelle Foundation was set up to help young men and women do the things that Jackson was going to do, Scott Yelle said.
Andrea Yelle said that Jackson saw the goodness and light in people and brought them together. He was also an organ donor, and because he was left along the side of the road that day, “Many people were impacted by his death.”
The couple said it concerns them that Sauro is still on the road and that the people of Horry County should be worried.
This story was originally published July 17, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
