Barstow PD arrests suspect in hit-and-run that left dead man lying on Armory Road stretch
Barstow Police Department has arrested a local man for allegedly driving away after a late night, car-on-pedestrian collision this weekend that left a person lying dead in a high-traffic area of Armory Road.
Reginald Vance Ward, a 52-year-old Barstow resident, was arrested around 8:30 p.m. Saturday night on suspicions of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, and hit and run resulting in death, according to his booking information. He was being held on a $250,000 bail in the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto as of midday Monday, and is set to appear in Victorville Superior Court at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday to face the suspected charges.
Two Barstow Police officers, Austin Jaramillo and Irwin Islas, discovered the body of a man “lying in the roadway” near the 900 block of Armory Road — a popular shopping center with outlets such as Stater Bros. Markets, Desert Community Bank and Galaxy Smoke & Vape — while they were patrolling the city at about 1:25 a.m. Saturday, Barstow PD said in a Facebook post on Monday.
“Officers Jaramillo and Islas stopped and checked on the subject and found him to be suffering from a major injury to his head,” the police department stated. “They immediately administered first aid to the male and requested emergency medical services to respond to the scene.”
Barstow Fire Protection District arrived for additional medical assistance for the man, whom authorities haven’t identified. “Despite all life saving measures,” BPD stated, paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
Officers at the scene found debris from the car that allegedly struck and killed the man, including “a particular panel part of the vehicle” next to his body.
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BPD Detective Matthew Helms determined through investigation that the debris belonged to “an older model Suzuki Grand Vitara” with damage and detached pieces from “the front and driver’s side area” of the vehicle, according to the department.
Officers then went searching throughout the city for a Suzuki fitting that description.
Shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday, according to BPD, Detective Jose Sanchez found the suspected vehicle “at a gas station in the 100 block of Montara Road,” and pulled it over at a house on the 1800 block of Calico Drive. Ward, the Barstow resident now suspected of the hit-and-run, was the driver.
Two other BPD detectives, Helms and Austyn Willis, interviewed witnesses to the fatal collision and “were able to identify Reginald Ward as the driver of the Suzuki Grand Vitara,” according to the department.
Ward was initially interviewed and booked that evening at the county sheriff’s jail in Barstow, according to BPD. Detectives impounded the Suzuki Grand Vitara as evidence.
The popular stretch of Armory Road remained closed hours after the fatal collision, according to numerous residents who inquired in private Facebook groups about the reason for the road being blocked off around midday Saturday.
Charlie McGee covers California’s High Desert for the Daily Press, focusing on the city of Barstow and its surrounding communities. He is also a Report for America corps member with The GroundTruth Project, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization dedicated to supporting the next generation of journalists in the U.S. and around the world. McGee may be reached at 760-955-5341 or cmcgee@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @bycharliemcgee.
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Barstow police arrest suspect in fatal hit-and-run
