Fresno police detective arrested, charged in September crash that killed homeless man

A Fresno police detective has been arrested for his role in a car crash that killed a 51-year old man in September.

Detective Benito Soto was arrested Wednesday on several charges including 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, at the intersection of Fresno and E streets Sept. 5, according to the statement.

Police had 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.

According to the statement, 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 had also had a history of drug-related charges and prior citations for walking in the roadway.

But the department’s Collision Reconstruction Unit also found Soto was traveling between 29-42 mph at impact, on a street where the speed limit is posted at 30 and where pedestrians could clearly be seen from a distance.

Soto’s cell phone showed he had been texting in the moments before the crash.

The investigators concluded Soto should have been able to stop and avoid the collision, police said.

Police spokesman Sgt. Jeff LaBlue said the department would say nothing more regarding the arrest due to the pending prosecution and internal affairs investigation.

‘Justice for Guero’

Soto, who had until now not been identified because of the Peace Officers’ Bill of Rights, was place on a brief administrative leave following the crash, but later returned to duty. His officer powers have been suspended pending the outcome of the criminal case and an Internal Affairs Investigation, police said.

The homeless advocacy group We are Not Invisible held a candlelit 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 previously been a construction worker, but 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.”

This story was originally published December 30, 2020 at 12:52 PM.