Investigators determined that a 23-year-old man run over and killed on a Perris street by a driver who fled the scene was attempting to commit a carjacking when he was hit, the California Highway Patrol reported Monday.
Christian Chavez of Riverside was killed Friday night after an unidentified motorist struck him on Cajalco Road, just west of Cowan Road, according to CHP Officer Dan Olivas.
He said that shortly before 9 p.m., Chavez was standing in the middle of Cajalco when a woman at the wheel of a 2008 Infinity G35 approached from the east, clipping him with her driver's side window after she failed to notice him until the last second.
Olivas said the woman immediately stopped on the shoulder of the roadway, and her front-seat passenger, a female friend whose name was withheld, got out of the sedan to check on the pedestrian, who jumped in the passenger seat and tried to take control of the sedan.
The motorist switched off her ignition but was unable to put the car in park, and it rolled across eastbound lanes, running into a chain-link fence near Gustin Road, according to Olivas.
He said the driver ran away, and Chavez slipped behind the wheel, attempting unsuccessfully to restart her car.
"(Chavez) exited the vehicle and walked to the center of the westbound lane of Cajalco Road," Olivas said. "An unidentified driver stopped their vehicle, possibly a GMC Denali, partially on the shoulder of Cajalco, near Cowen. (Chavez) attempted to enter the vehicle."
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Olivas said the SUV driver accelerated and Chavez tumbled onto the pavement. As the suspect laid on the westbound side of Cajalco, a motorist ran over him and didn't stop, according to Olivas.
Riverside County Fire Department paramedics arrived a few minutes later and pronounced Chavez dead at the scene.
No one else was injured.
Anyone with information about the hit-and-run was asked to call the CHP's Riverside office at (951) 637-8000.
