The driver of the car that is suspected of fleeing the scene of a fatal collision on Twentynine Palms Highway has been located and arrested.
Richard Heck, 60, was arrested on January 24 near the intersection of Twentynine Palms Highway and Kickapoo Trail in Yucca Valley in connection with the collision, and is being investigated for criminal counts related to hit and run and driving, vehicular manslaughter, and driving without a license.
The California Patrol has been searching for the driver of a green Chevrolet Silverado that was involved in a multi-car collision on January 14. The CHP says that a Nissan Sentra was traveling at a high speed eastbound on Twentynine Palms Highway near Kerr Avenue when a Chevrolet Silverado was also traveling eastbound in front of the Nissan at a slow speed. The CHP says that the Nissan steered to the right to avoid hitting the Chevrolet, and the driver of the Nissan lost control, hitting the Chevrolet first then moving into the westbound lanes of traffic where it collided into a Burrtec trash truck and then into a Tesla.
Benjamin Perez, a 31 year-old resident of Twentynine Palms was killed in the collision.
The CHP says that the Chevrolet Silverado fled the scene, and they asked for the public’s help in locating the vehicle and its driver. Heck was arrested for drug and weapon charges in October and was out on bail at the time of the collision.
Heck, who is believed to be the driver of the vehicle, was contacted on January 24 at 11:00 p.m. He was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, injury hit and run, and driving without a license, and is being held at the West Valley Detention Center on $290,000 bail. Heck was arraigned in San Bernardino County Superior Court, and pleaded “not guilty” to the felony charge of hit and run resulting in death along with misdemeanor charges of vehicular manslaughter and driving without a license.
