Suspect Arrested in Fatal El Rio Accident
An Oxnard man was arrested Friday in connection with a hit-and-run accident that killed a 16-month-old child in El Rio this week.
Mike Banuelos Hernandez, 54, was taken into custody about 6 p.m. at the intersection of Donlon Avenue and Wooley Road in Oxnard, a few hours after a warrant was issued for his arrest and the California Highway Patrol released his photo, officials said.
Hernandez is expected to be charged with vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run with injury, officials said.
He is suspected of running over Francisco Jesus Morales Wednesday afternoon as the toddler played with other children in his uncle’s courtyard in the 400 block of Ventura Boulevard.
The boy’s mother, who was standing nearby at the time of the accident, scooped up the child from the ground and pleaded with the driver to stop, but instead he fled, officials said. The boy died a short time later at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard.
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