Texas sheriff's deputy arrested deadly hit-and-run crash in Riverside
After a week-long search, Texas deputies have arrested one of their own for the deadly hit-and-run collision that killed a 38-year-old father in Riverside.
According to authorities, Giovanni Ceja was visiting family in the Inland Empire city when he borrowed a relative's car and drove to a bar on Sunday, Aug. 6. Investigators claimed he had multiple alcoholic beverages before deciding to get back behind the wheel and drive home.
While on I-215 Freeway, just south of SR-91, Ceja allegedly ran over Gilberto Sotelo as the father of seven filled up his gas tank on the side of the road. His wife and one of their children, who brought Sotelo a can of gas, were nearby when the collision happened.
"Where he pulled over was far enough over in the gravel where he should have been safe," Jesus Sotelo, the victim's brother said last week.
Members of the Bexar County Sheriff's Department arrested now-former deputy Ceja on behalf of the California Patrol on Aug. 14 for the fatal hit-and-run. According to KENS 5, a CBS affiliate in San Antonio, Ceja reached the rank of corporal during his five-year tenure with the department and was working in the county's jail system.
"He's wearing orange and being booked into the same jail he came to work at this morning," Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said Monday afternoon.
Ceja resigned instead of going through the termination process. The department dishonorably discharged him and relocated him to a different jail while waiting for his extradition to California.
"I'm extremely disappointed. Quite frankly, I'm furious," Salazar said. "We were in the process of planning a press conference of a really good burglary case investigation... but with that being said, I'm furious we have to be here talking about this. My understanding is he was talking to California authorities since then and couldn't even get his story straight."
