A 32-year-old man who was fatally struck while trying to cross Highway 74 in Homeland stepped into traffic without warning, where no marked crosswalk was available, authorities said Monday.
The victim, identified only as a Hemet resident, was hit shortly after midnight Friday on eastbound Highway 74, just east of Melba Avenue, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Officer Mike Lassig said the pedestrian was initially walking on the north side shoulder of the four-lane corridor when he turned and headed across the westbound lanes, at first avoiding traffic.
Lassig said the victim then proceeded to cross the eastbound lanes, stepping directly into the path of a 2003 Kia Sorrento traveling roughly 45 mph.
“The front of the Kia crashed into the man,” the CHP spokesman said. “He came to rest on the ground, and the driver of the Kia came to a stop.”
The 18-year-old Hemet man at the wheel of the Kia was not injured.
Riverside County Fire Department paramedics reached the location within minutes and pronounced the pedestrian dead at the scene.
Officers questioned the Kia driver, who wasn’t identified, but did not arrest him.
The nearest marked crosswalk in the area is nearly a mile to the west at Leon Road.
Anyone with information was asked to contact the CHP Temecula office at 951-466-4300.