Last Updated on April 25, 2018 by CCAR Staff
On the fourth anniversary of a young man’s death from a hit-and-run in Eastvale, investigators Wednesday renewed their plea for public assistance in finding the person responsible for taking the victim’s life.
“The commitment to the investigation has never diminished and (we are) asking for your help,” a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department statement says. “All information (from) previous leads that the public provided have been exhausted.”
Troy Davids, 21, of Eastvale was struck just after midnight on April 25, 2014. He was bicycling home after leaving a late shift at work and was passing through the intersection of Hamner and Limonite avenues on a green light, when a black sedan plowed through a red signal — going west in the eastbound lanes of Hamner — smashing into Davids as he headed south.
The driver sped away from the scene, eluding deputies who arrived moments later, said Sgt. Jason Edmondson. He said witnesses saw the vehicle turn south on Scholar Way, after which it vanished from sight.
Davids died a short time later at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Ontario.
His family made a televised plea for help identifying the hit-and-run driver, and a little over a month after the bicyclist’s death, detectives arrested a then-26-year-old convicted DUI offender. The man admitted being on the road and “drunk out of his mind” that night, and also told investigators that he recalled hitting something, but couldn’t be certain it was a person, according to Deputy District Attorney Kevin Beecham.
The man was charged with second-degree murder and other felonies, and a judge ruled in January 2015 that there was sufficient evidence to warrant a trial. But weeks afterward, Beecham procured mobile phone logs from the man’s carrier indicating that he was making calls from a Coachella Valley casino at the time of the hit-and-run. A person, whose identity was not disclosed, also came forward stating he was with the man at the casino when Davids was struck.
All charges were dismissed, sending detectives back to square one.
“As with any unsolved crime, the (sheriff’s) department is always looking for new information which may solve sometimes tragic and untimely incidents,” according to the sheriff’s statement. Anyone with information about the deadly hit-and-run was urged to contact traffic bureau investigators at (951) 955-2600.
