RivCo Driver Awaits Sentencing Cyclist's Hit-And-Run Death After Plea

BANNING, CA —A 22-year-old motorist who fatally hit a bicyclist at a San Jacinto intersection, then fled, is slated for sentencing Tuesday at the Banning Justice Center.

Savaughn JoJuan Colon Barnes of Hemet pleaded guilty in January to hit- and-run resulting in death under an agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney's Office. In exchange for his admissions, prosecutors agreed to drop charges of gross vehicular manslaughter and fleeing the scene of a crime against Barnes.

The defendant, who is free on an $80,000 bond, is due to be sentenced before Superior Court Judge Joshlyn Pulliam on Tuesday morning. Pulliam is expected to certify the terms of the plea bargain and impose a prison term, which wasn't specified in court documents.

Barnes fatally struck 31-year-old Margarito Castro of San Jacinto in December 2022.

According to sheriff's Sgt. Dawn Blair, about 8 p.m. on Dec. 4, Castro was in the center median, waiting to cross State Street at Dillon Avenue, when Barnes approached, going southbound on State "at a high rate of speed" in his Hyundai sedan.

"The driver of the Hyundai entered the center median ... and struck the victim," Blair said.

She said that Barnes didn't stop.

Witnesses called 911, and county fire department paramedics reached the location within a few minutes, pronouncing Castro dead at the scene.

"A witness came forward and provided the license plate of the suspect vehicle," Blair said.

She said patrol deputies found Barnes' car parked outside an apartment building in the 1900 block of Acacia Avenue in Hemet, where the defendant was taken into custody without incident.

He had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.