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 Monday that the family is not ready to talk about the case. He said 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.

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.

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.