Car driver will get 3 years in jail for a hit-and-run in San Jacinto that killed a bicyclist

BANNING — A 22-year-old motorist who fatally hit a bicyclist at a San Jacinto intersection, then fled, was sentenced Tuesday to 3 years in state jail.

Savaughn JoJuan Colon Barnes of Hemet pleaded responsible in January to hit- and-run leading to loss of life below an settlement with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. In change for his admissions, prosecutors dropped costs of gross vehicular manslaughter and fleeing the scene of a criminal offense towards Barnes.

During Tuesday’s listening to on the Banning Justice Center, Superior Court Judge Samuel Diaz licensed the phrases of the plea deal and imposed the sentence stipulated by the prosecution and protection.

Barnes fatally struck 31-year-old Margarito Castro of San Jacinto in December 2022. There was no indication that the defendant and sufferer knew each other.

According to Sgt. Dawn Blair of the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, at about 8 p.m. on Dec. 4, Castro was within the heart median, ready to cross State Street at Dillon Avenue, when Barnes approached, going southbound on State “at a excessive fee of velocity” in his Hyundai sedan.

“The driver of the Hyundai entered the middle median … and struck the sufferer,” Blair mentioned.

She mentioned Barnes didn’t cease.

Witnesses referred to as 911, and county fireplace division paramedics reached the situation inside a couple of minutes, saying Castro dead on the scene.

“A witness got here ahead and offered the license plate of the suspect car,” Blair mentioned.

She mentioned patrol deputies discovered Barnes’ automobile parked outdoors an house constructing within the 1900 block of Acacia Avenue in Hemet, the place the defendant was taken into custody with out incident.