Man charged in fatal hit-and-run involving 14-year-old riding bike
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — According to court documents, the Marion County Prosecuting Attorney charged 35-year-old Joshua D. Raine in the death of a 14-year-old riding his bike.
Raine was charged with one count of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. The crash killed 14-year-old Wilberto Rivera, who was riding his bike while friends walked along with him on Cumberland Road.
Rivera was on a neon-colored, electric bike with lights in the 1100 block of North Cumberland Road just north of 10th Street, his family told News 8. He was with a group of friends and was the only teen on a bike.
His family said he had just helped one friend get home and was headed back to his. Rivera was a freshman at Victory College Prep and was on Fall Break his family said.
Police say the friends told them that a black Chrysler struck Rivera and kept going. Police also say they reviewed a video showing the teens walking and a vehicle passing them. The video shows the vehicle braking, but not swerving or stopping. The video quality was not good enough to identify a vehicle.
Several pieces of a vehicle were left at the scene, including a vanity plate, police say.
Police say the bicycle Rivera was on did not have lights, no lights from a bike were found on scene and that the bike had a reflector on the seat post.
Police used license plate readers to identify a black Chrysler 300 travelling west on East 10th Street from Cumberland at the time of the crash. Police found the vehicle registration was for a home a half mile from the crash site.
After seeing internet coverage about Rivera being involved in a crash, he went to talk to police.
Raine admitted to police that he hit something while driving to work on Cumberland Road October 10. He told investigators that he left his home in his 2019 Chrysler 300 to drive to work on the northwest side of Indianapolis with his ‘music loud’ and hit something. Raine told police he looked in his rearview mirror and slowed down but did not see anything and saw another vehicle behind him. Raine said he assumed he hit a deer. When he got to work, Raine told police he saw the damage to his vehicle but did not report the incident.
Police were able to match damage to Raine’s car to the damage to Rivera’s bike and the car pieces left behind, according to court documents. Police say they determined Raine’s vehicle struck the 14-year-old with the middle of the front bumper.
Police say in the area where the crash happened there are no streetlights or sidewalks and is not well lit. The roadway is one lane for north traffic and one lane for south traffic.
Rivera was pronounced deceased from the injuries he suffered in the collision on October 14.
A booking photo of Raine was not available at the time of publishing.
A previous version of this story stated Raine had been arrested, IMPD confirmed this afternoon that Raine has not yet been arrested or turned himself in.