Local
Fresno police detective under investigation after fatal crash with pedestrian
The Fresno Police Department on Friday confirmed a detective was the driver of a vehicle that struck and killed a pedestrian on the night of Sept. 5.
Citing the Peace Officers’ Bill of Rights, Fresno police declined to release the detective’s name.
Police officials said the detective is a 13-year veteran of the Fresno Police Department. The detective was placed on a brief administrative leave following the collision and has since returned to duty, according to Deputy Chief Michael Reid.
Reid initially told The Bee the detective was on-duty. Later on Friday, he corrected the statement, saying the detective’s shift had ended and he was off-duty when the collision occurred. He was driving his department vehicle.
The officer struck the man, 51-year-old Jose Valencia Pulido, on the corner of Fresno and E streets at 9:37 p.m. on Sept. 5.
The city-owned car was heading west on Fresno Street as Pulido was pushing a bicycle inside the crosswalk on the east side of Fresno Street, heading north. But the officer’s traffic light was green.
“It looks like the detective had the green light and right-of-way,” Reid said. “But it’s something that we look at every aspect of it.”
The light had been green for a while, according to a witness statement, detective statement, and video footage, Reid said. Police described the northeast corner where Pulido was struck as poorly lit.
The officer stayed on the scene to offer aid, Reid said, and called in support.
Pulido was rushed to a hospital in an ambulance but died later that night.
The autopsy report had not been completed as of Friday.
The homeless advocacy group We are not Invisible, led by Dez Martinez, will host a candlelit vigil for “Guero” on Sept. 25 at 6:30 p.m. on the corner of Fresno and E streets. Pulido had been homeless for several years, advocates confirmed.
Reid could not provide many details into the ongoing investigation, like when it would be completed. He said that it depends on the toxicology report, which could take up to 3 months. Fresno’s civil liability team is also involved in the investigation.
“This is absolutely avoidable,” Reid said. ‘It really breaks our heart to be involved in something like that.”
Kevin Little, a Fresno civil rights attorney and homeless advocate, said he was asked by Pulido’s family and Martinez, the local homeless advocate, to look into the case.
Little said the details provided to the family and the media differed. For example, he said a detective told a family member the detective who struck Pulido was off-duty, whereas police initially told The Bee he was on-duty. They were also told there was no video footage of the incident, Little said.
Reid then clarified to The Bee that the video camera faced south and captured Pulido entering the roadway but not the collision itself.
“It seems there’s a lot of double talk going on,” Little said.
Pulido, according to Little, had been homeless for several years. He was previously a construction worker who suffered 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.”
.JPG)
.jpg)
Comments