Hit-And-Run Drivers Leaving Victims To Die On Local Roads

A 23-year-old Riverside woman suspected of fatally striking a motorcyclist on Dec. 16 while driving under the influence, then fleeing the scene, is now behind bars.

But police are still seeking drivers who recently left victims to die on local roads – including the case of a Lake Elsinore man who was killed over the weekend in Canyon Lake.

Monique Elisa Johnson was arrested about 6 a.m. Monday on Locust Street near 13th Street in Riverside, a little over three hours after she allegedly struck a 25-year-old motorcycle rider from Rialto on the westbound 91 Freeway west of Central Avenue, California Highway Patrol Officer Travis Monks reported.

The male motorcyclist was transported to Riverside Community Hospital but succumbed to his injuries, according to Monks.

Johnson was driving a 2013 Mazda west on the 91, and the man was riding a 2005 Yamaha motorcycle in front of her at a slower speed, Monks said. The Mazda rear-ended the motorcycle, and the man was thrown onto the road. Johnson allegedly left the scene and was later found and arrested by the CHP, Monks said.

Johnson was booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, DUI, and hit and run causing death. She was being held in lieu of $75,000 bail and is expected to be arraigned Wednesday at the Riverside Hall of Justice, according to jail records.

Police are still seeking information in the case of another hit-and-run case out of Canyon Lake. In that incident 32-year-old Scott Bolger of Lake Elsinore was walking home from a Canyon Lake tavern early Dec. 14 when he was struck and killed by a motorist who failed to stop at the scene.

Bolger was pronounced dead at 2:22 a.m., according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department coroner’s office. He was found on Railroad Canyon Road, 245 feet west of Canyon Lake Drive South in Canyon Lake, the report stated.

“The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is encouraged to call Deputy Rabago at the Perris Sheriff’s Station, (951) 210-1000. 

Additionally, an investigation is underway into the hit-and-run death of a woman believed to be a Perris resident.

The victim, possibly a transient whose identity has still not been confirmed, was struck about 2 a.m. Dec. 10 on Cajalco Road, just west of Seaton Avenue. 

A vehicle -- likely a Subaru -- was traveling east on Cajalco and the woman was walking on the eastbound side of the roadway, according to Monks. 

A passing motorist spotted the woman lying in the roadway, in the eastbound lane, and called 911, he continued.

The Riverside County Coroner's Office indicated the victim may have been struck by more than one vehicle before she was found. The area is sparsely populated, with vacant lots on all but one corner.

Monks said investigators found vehicle parts scattered nearby that detached from a Subaru, apparently during impact with the victim.

"The hit-and-run vehicle is missing underbody plastic parts with 'Subaru' imprinted on them," Monks wrote in a report.

Anyone with information about that incident is urged to call CHP investigating Officer G. Marroquin at 951-637-8000.