A motorist who intentionally ran over and killed a 46-year-old man on a Riverside street was convicted Tuesday of murder.
Sergio Reynaldo Gutierrez, 33, of Riverside, fatally struck Benedicto Solanga, also of Riverside, in July 2021.
Following three days of deliberations, a Riverside jury convicted Gutierrez of the murder count, as well as a sentence-enhancing allegation of using a deadly weapon — his pickup truck — in the commission of a felony.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Timothy Hollenhorst scheduled a sentencing hearing for Dec. 15 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
Gutierrez was being held without bail at the nearby Robert Presley Jail.
According to a trial brief filed by the prosecution, on the afternoon of July 29, 2021, the defendant was driving his Ford F-250 on Market Street, near the Pomona (60) Freeway underpass, when he encountered Solanga walking with his bicycle and a friend, whose name was not disclosed, going in the opposite direction.
“The defendant honked the horn, put his hands out the window and gave Solanga the middle finger,” the brief stated. “Moments later, the truck made a U-turn and was traveling in the same direction as Solanga. The truck abruptly swerved to the right and struck him from behind. Solanga was catapulted into the air and landed face down.”
According to prosecutors, the man walking with Solanga was not injured. Gutierrez fled in the pickup, blasting through a red light to shake witnesses who attempted to follow him.
The reasons for his hostility toward the victim were not specified.
Solanga was hospitalized, but he died three days later as a result of the impact, according to Riverside police Officer Ryan Railsback.
He said detectives spent the ensuing three weeks attempting to identify the pickup driver and ultimately confirmed that it was Gutierrez.
One of the witnesses with key information was a Riverside Auto-Theft Interdiction Detail Task Force member, who had encountered the defendant in the Santa Ana River bottom with the Ford F-250 on the day of the attack, trying to get the vehicle running.
The officer recalled graffiti on the pickup that bore the message, “Don’t (expletive) With This Truck,” according to court papers.
The defendant was taken into custody without incident on Aug. 17, 2021.
He had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
