A Fresno police detective who officials say was texting when he struck and killed a homeless man with his department-assigned car was arrested Wednesday, authorities said.
Detective Benito Soto was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, driving at a speed unsafe for the conditions, failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk and texting while driving, the police department said in a statement.
Soto was on duty and driving a department-assigned vehicle when he struck and killed 51-year-old Jose Valencia Pulido in September, according to the statement.
Police previously said Soto, a 13-year veteran of the department assigned to the Street Violence Bureau, had been off duty at the time of the crash, the Fresno Bee reported.
It could not be immediately determined if Soto has an attorney who could speak on his behalf. Fresno police spokesman Sgt. Jeff LaBlue didn’t immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press requesting the information.
An investigation of the incident showed that Pulido was crossing the intersection against a red light and that he had a blood alcohol level of .11% at the time of the crash. He also had a history of drug-related arrests and prior citations for walking in the roadway, officials said.
Investigators also found Soto was traveling between 29 and 42 mph at impact, on a street where the speed limit is posted at 30 mph and where pedestrians could clearly be seen from a distance.
Soto’s cellphone showed he had been texting in the moments before the crash, police said.
The investigators concluded Soto should have been able to stop and avoid the collision, police said.
The homeless advocacy group We Are Not Invisible held a candlelight vigil for Pulido in late September where mourners called for justice in his death.
At the time, homeless advocate Kevin Little said Pulido, who was known as “Guero,” had been homeless for several years and had been a construction worker before suffering a serious workplace injury.
“He wasn’t a drug addict,” Little said. “He wasn’t a criminal. And he had people, notwithstanding the fact he was on the street, who love and care about him and who want answers.”
