Charges are expected Wednesday against a 34-year-old man suspected of fatally striking an elderly man in Cathedral City and leaving the scene.
Heber Alexander Henriquez of Cathedral City was arrested Sunday morning on suspicion of murder and a hit and run causing permanent injury, according to inmate records.
Crews from the Cathedral City Fire Department responded to a report of a man on the ground with head injuries in the 67300 block of Mission Drive at around 6:10 a.m. Sunday, according to Sgt. Barnett of the Cathedral City Police Department.
“Based on evidence located at the scene, it appears the pedestrian was walking on the sidewalk when a vehicle went onto the sidewalk and crashed into the pedestrian and fled the area,” Barnett said in a statement.
When fire department personnel arrived to the scene, they saw a person with injuries consistent with being struck by a vehicle. The victim was identified as a 78-year-old Cathedral City resident, according to Barnett. The man was in full arrest and paramedics were unable to revive him.
The suspected hit-and-run driver was later identified as Henriquez, who arrested and booked into the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio on $1 million bail.
The crash remains under investigation, though alcohol was not a suspected factor, Barnett said.
Anyone with information on the fatal hit and run was asked to call Cathedral City police at 760-770-0300.