A convicted felon who fled from California Highway Patrol officers while driving under the influence of drugs and crashed as he tried to exit Interstate 15, killing a passenger and severely injuring another, was bound for state prison Tuesday to serve a 28-year sentence.
Timmy Lee Johnson Jr., 25, of Lancaster, on Monday admitted a charge of felony evading resulting in a fatality, along with a sentence-enhancing great bodily injury allegation and a prior criminal strike under a plea agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
In exchange for Johnson’s admissions, prosecutors dropped three related charges against him, including a vehicular manslaughter count.
During a hearing at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta, Superior Court Judge Louis Hanoian certified the terms of the plea deal and imposed the sentence stipulated by the prosecution and defense.
According to the CHP, shortly after 4 a.m. on April 15, 2023, a CHP unit patrolling southbound I-15, just north of Magnolia Avenue, in Corona spotted Johnson’s Jeep Compass without license plates and initiated a traffic stop on the freeway.
Officer Javier Navarro said the defendant failed to yield and instead stepped on the accelerator, continuing southbound.
“During the pursuit, the Jeep reached speeds up to 127 mph, exiting and re-entering the freeway several times,” Navarro said.
He said additional patrol units joined the pursuit, following Johnson as he raced into Murrieta.
“The driver exited southbound I-15 at California Oaks Road, where he failed to negotiate a curve in the roadway and overturned,” the CHP spokesman said.
Two passengers, 22-year-old Trayvon Ford of Los Angeles and another man whose identity was not disclosed, were ejected from the SUV and hurled onto the roadway, according to Navarro.
Johnson ran away as CHP officers converged on the location. He was apprehended within a few minutes without further incident.
Ford and the other party ejected onto California Oaks were taken to Inland Valley Medical Center in Wildomar, where Ford died less than an hour later. The other victim suffered major injuries from which he ultimately recovered.
Navarro said Johnson exhibited signs of being under the influence of controlled substances, which toxicology tests confirmed. The defendant was hospitalized for minor injuries but booked into jail a couple days later.
According to court records, Johnson had a prior felony conviction in another jurisdiction that wasn’t specified.