Jury deliberations began on Wednesday in the trial of a motorist accused of intentionally running over and killing a 46-year-old man in Riverside.
The defendant, Sergio Reynaldo Gutierrez, 33, allegedly ran over Benedicto Solanga in July 2021.
Gutierrez is facing charges of murder and the use of a deadly weapon, his pickup truck, during the commission of a felony.
The prosecution and defense presented their closing statements on Wednesday afternoon. Riverside County Superior Court Judge Timothy Hollenhorst then sent the jurors behind closed doors to review the evidence from the four-day trial at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
Gutierrez is currently held at the Robert Presley Jail on $1 million bail.
According to the prosecution’s trial brief, on the afternoon of July 29, 2021, the defendant was driving his Ford F-250 on Market Street near the Pomona (60) Freeway underpass. He encountered Solanga, who was walking with his bicycle and an unidentified friend in the opposite direction.
“The defendant honked the horn, put his hands out the window, and gestured obscenely at Solanga,” the brief stated. “Moments later, the truck made a U-turn and was heading in the same direction as Solanga. The truck suddenly swerved to the right and struck him from behind, propelling Solanga into the air and causing him to land face down.”
Prosecutors allege that the man walking with Solanga was unharmed. Gutierrez fled the scene in his pickup truck and was briefly followed by witnesses, but they lost track of him after he ran a red light.
The prosecution did not specify the reasons for Gutierrez’s alleged hostility towards the victim.
Solanga was hospitalized and died three days later from the impact, according to Riverside police Officer Ryan Railsback.
Detectives spent three weeks trying to identify the pickup driver and ultimately determined it was Gutierrez. One of the witnesses who provided crucial information was a member of the Riverside Auto-Theft Interdiction Detail Task Force, who had encountered the defendant in the Santa Ana River bottom with the Ford F-250 on the day of the attack, attempting to start the vehicle.
According to court documents, the officer noted graffiti on the pickup that read, “Don’t mess with this truck.”
The defendant was arrested without incident on August 17, 2021, on Sir Bedivere Drive.
There are no previous felony convictions documented for Gutierrez in Riverside County.
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