Man Pleads Not Guilty to Murder Charge Stemming From Jogger's Death

POMONA, CA - A motorist accused of intentionally running down a jogger in a bike lane in Walnut on Presidents' Day pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a murder charge.

Haissam Massalkhy, 36, of West Covina, is charged in the Feb. 15 death of Chi Shao, 59, of Walnut.

Shao was running in a bike lane shortly before 6 a.m. when he was struck from behind by a 1989 Toyota Camry driven by Massalkhy, according to sheriff's investigators and prosecutors.

The jogger was carried on the hood of the car for several yards, until the Camry went off the road at Citadel Drive and smashed through the backyard wall of a home on Barnard Avenue, said Lt. Steve Jauch of the sheriff's Homicide Bureau.

Deputies were dispatched in response to a call from a homeowner in the 20200 block of Barnard Avenue, and Shao was pronounced dead at the scene, and Massalkhy was arrested that afternoon.

Shao and Massalkhy did not know each other, according to sheriff's Lt. David Buckner. Authorities have not given a motive for the defendant's allegedly deliberate act.

He could face up to life in state prison if convicted, according to the District Attorney's Office.

--City News Service, photo via Shutterstock