A 20-year-old suspected drunken driver accused of fatally injuring a motorcyclist on Interstate 215, then fleeing the scene of the collision in west Riverside, pleaded not guilty Monday to DUI gross vehicular manslaughter.
Ryan Andrew Burke was arrested June 10 after allegedly plowing into 50-year-old Martin Guillen of Long Beach on southbound I-215 at Blaine Street.
Along with the manslaughter count, Burke is charged with a sentence-enhancing allegation of fleeing the scene of a deadly crash.
He was arraigned before Riverside County Superior Court Judge David Gunn, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for Aug. 21 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
Burke is being held in lieu of $75,000 bail at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside.
According to the California Highway Patrol, the defendant was allegedly drunk at the wheel of his 2014 Kia Forte when he approached Guillen from behind about 4 a.m. on June 10 in the southbound lanes of the freeway.
Officer Dan Olivas alleged Burke was going in excess of 100 mph and slammed into the victim, who was flung from his 2017 Harley Davidson, landing on the pavement a hundred feet away.
Burke lost control of the Kia, which overturned in the middle of the freeway, according to Olivas, who alleged the defendant ran away before paramedics and officers reached the location.
Guillen died 20 minutes later, en route to Riverside Community Hospital.
Olivas said officers quickly identified Burke as the alleged perpetrator, based mainly on evidence gathered at the scene.
The defendant was found at his apartment on Canyon Crest Drive, where he was taken into custody without a struggle.
Burke has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.