A juvenile was arrested Monday by the Ames Police Department in connection with a hit-and-run car accident that claimed the life of an Ames woman Sunday night.

Tim Lozano, age 15, was charged with vehicular homicide, a class C felony, involuntary manslaughter, a class D felony and leaving the scene of an accident, an aggravated misdemeanor, said Ames Police Cmdr. Jim Robinson.

Lozano was behind the wheel of the blue 1990 Volvo that struck and killed Linda Chittenden, 1411 Harding Ave., on Sunday night. She was 54 years old.

Lozano was booked and processed at the Ames Police Department and later transported to a juvenile detention facility in Eldora on Monday evening, Robinson said.

Robinson said Lozano had spent time away from Ames, but had returned recently. He could not confirm that Lozano was a student at Ames High School.

The Ames Police Department suspects three to five juveniles were in the Volvo at the time of the collision.

“We have identified some individuals — juveniles, who were present in the car at the time of the impact,” he said.

Robinson said officials are continuing their investigation at Ames High School.

“We’re conducting numerous interviews with individuals at the Ames High School,” he said.

He said it is possible, but unknown at this time, whether or not the occupants of the blue Volvo were intoxicated at the time of the accident.

Ames Police officers responded to the accident at 10:42 p.m. Saturday. The accident occurred at the intersection of 16th Street and Roosevelt Avenue. A blue 1990 Volvo was traveling north on Roosevelt Street when it struck the 1998 red Ford Contour driven by Chittenden, who was traveling west along 16th Street.

The Volvo was registered to John Hauptman, 2328 Donald St., professor of physics and astronomy at Iowa State. Officials said Lozano is not related to Hauptman.

Robinson said investigators are looking into the possibility that one of Hauptman’s relatives was in the car at the time of the collision.

Ames Police Department officials said the blue Volvo failed to stop for a posted stop sign, which resulted in the front portion of the Volvo colliding with the left side of the Ford Contour.

The impact of the Contour uprooted a nearby stop sign on the north lawn of the intersection.

At midnight, officials removed Chittenden’s body from the Ford Contour, their boots grinding over countless fragments of glass that were sprayed across the intersection.

Witnesses at the scene of the accident Sunday reported the occupants of the blue Volvo fleeing the scene on foot after the collision.

Amy Noxon, a senior at Ames High, said she was on her way to a friend’s graduation open house when she came upon the scene of the accident.

“I was coming to my friend’s open house. I drove by and saw a guy running down Roosevelt,” said Noxon, age 18, of 2303 Kellogg Ave. “He was tall, and he had dark clothes on. He was sprinting. He was running fast. He had long legs.”

“I had to stop and see what was going on,” Noxon said. “I was scared.”

Robinson said earlier Monday the driver and occupants of the blue Volvo could face “a whole host of charges,” including leaving the scene of an accident and manslaughter. He said it would depend whether or not the occupants were juveniles.

“If this is a juvenile, it depends if the juvenile is referred to juvenile court or waived to adult courts,” Robinson said.

That decision would be up to the County Attorney’s office, he said. Names of the other juveniles have not been released at this point.

Neighbors as far as five blocks from the accident reported hearing the collision.

“There was a screech,” said Laurel Scott, 1510 Roosevelt Ave. “I was inside my bedroom. I live five houses down. Some people on Northwestern [Avenue] even heard it.”

“I heard it from my house,” said neighbor Bryan Buss, 713 16th St. “Just a quick little screech, then a big thud.”

It has not been determined at this point if Chittenden was wearing a seat belt, or how fast either of the vehicles were traveling at the time of the collision, Robinson said.

“That’s something [the investigator] will attempt to determine through momentum theories and the final resting positions of each of the vehicles,” Robinson said.

He said the Ames Police Department believes Chittenden has children out of state, and family has been notified of her death.

He said fatality accidents in residential areas such as this are relatively uncommon.

“I would say for this community, it is out of the norm,” Robinson said. “We don’t have fatality accidents that often.”