A 20-year-old man accused of driving under the influence and killing his passenger in a fiery crash on the Pomona (60) Freeway in Jurupa Valley must stand trial for second-degree murder and other charges, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Angel Baby Cruz of Riverside was arrested last year following a California Highway Patrol investigation into the deadly wreck.
At the end of a preliminary hearing Tuesday, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Timothy Hollenhorst found there was sufficient evidence to bound Cruz over for trial on the murder count, along with a sentence-enhancing allegation of committing a felony offense while on bail.
The judge scheduled a post-preliminary hearing arraignment for May 27 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
Cruz remains held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail.
According to the CHP, shortly before 5 a.m. April 26, 2025, the defendant was at the wheel of a Mercedes 300 going westbound on the 60 when the sedan went out of control and slammed into the center divider wall between La Rue Street and Rubidoux Boulevard.
“The vehicle then went across all lanes and struck a tree,” Officer Javier Navarro said. “The vehicle became fully engulfed by fire.”
Good Samaritans stopped and went to help Cruz and his front-seat passenger, a young man identified in court documents only as “D.G.”
Navarro said they managed to pull Cruz to safety but couldn’t get to the victim, who was unconscious, before the Mercedes was consumed by the blaze.
“After the Riverside County Fire Department put out the flames, the body was located in the front seat,” the CHP spokesman said.
No one else had been in the car. No other vehicles were involved in the crash.
Cruz underwent treatment at a Riverside hospital for unspecified minor injuries, at which point he was also determined to be intoxicated, Navarro alleged.
The defendant was formally taken into custody without incident. After a brief hospitalization, he was cleared for booking into the downtown Riverside jail.
Cruz has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County. There were no details available concerning the circumstances of his prior arrest, or how long he had been on bond leading up to the fatal crash.