Woman Struck, Killed By Deputy ID'd As Moreno Valley Resident

MORENO VALLEY, CA — A 27-year-old woman, who was struck and killed Thursday by a Riverside County deputy behind the wheel of his patrol vehicle, has been identified as a Moreno Valley resident.

Rafaela Salazar-Ruiz was pronounced dead at the crash scene on Cactus Avenue, just west of Heacock Street, according to the Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner's Bureau.

The fatality in the vicinity of March Air Reserve Base occurred just before 4 a.m., roughly a block from the base's east entrance, according to the California Highway Patrol and the sheriff's department.

"The deputy was not operating his vehicle in an emergency response mode at the time of the collision," according to a sheriff's statement.

Preliminary information indicated that the victim was walking on Cactus where there is no marked crosswalk and was hit by the patrol SUV.

"Deputies immediately rendered medical aid to the pedestrian until paramedics arrived," the sheriff's department stated. "Paramedics pronounced the pedestrian dead at the scene."

The deputy was not injured.

The CHP is handling the investigation under a long-standing sheriff's policy that tasks the agency with overseeing independent evaluations whenever sheriff's vehicles are involved in traffic-related incidents involving property damage, injuries or deaths.

—City News Service and Patch editor Toni McAllister contributed to this report.