AT-FAULT DRIVER ARRESTED FOR MURDER IN 2023 FATAL TRAFFIC COLLISION

Published: 08/16/2024

AT-FAULT DRIVER ARRESTED FOR MURDER IN 2023 FATAL TRAFFIC COLLISION

 

RIVERSIDE, CA – Traffic Detectives recently completed their lengthy investigation and reconstruction of the fatal traffic collision that occurred last year on Arlington Avenue and Stover Avenue where an 8-year-old boy was killed.  23-year-old Andres Laris of Riverside, the driver determined to be at fault, was arrested by our METRO Team on Thursday, August 15, 2024, then booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center for murder.

 

Last year on Tuesday, May 16, 2023, at approximately 7:30 a.m., a major injury traffic collision occurred at that location involving a white Honda and gray Nissan.  Riverside Police Officers responded along with the Riverside Fire Department and located 5 injured people from the two involved vehicles.

 

Andres Laris was traveling westbound on Arlington Avenue approaching Stover Avenue when his Honda veered into the opposite lanes of traffic due to his high speed.  He collided head-on into the Nissan, which was traveling east on Arlington Avenue and driven by a 25-year-old woman with her younger siblings as passengers.  She suffered serious injuries, along with her 16-year-old brother and 10-year-old sister who both sustained critical injuries.  Her 8-year-old brother died. 

The Riverside Police Department’s Major Accident Investigation Team (M.A.I.T.) and Traffic Detectives responded, and they were assisted by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office and the Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office.

 

M.A.I.T. Investigators determined Mr. Laris was driving more than 100 mph when he collided into the Nissan.  His toxicology detected cannabis in his blood system as well.  In 2022, Mr. Laris successfully completed an online traffic school after receiving a speeding citation. The course curriculum included:

 

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) states that when speed increases from 40 mph to 60 mph, the energy created in a collision more than doubles.  In a crash, the higher the speed, the more severe the impact.  Speeding is dangerous because it increases the risk of a crash and decreases the time a driver has to react and avoid a collision. The U.S. Highway Patrol says that an average of 112,000 drivers receive speeding tickets each day. About 41,000,000 speeding tickets are given out each year in an attempt to prevent unsafe driving.

 

Based on his reckless actions that caused this collision and death, along with his driving history where he had received two prior speeding citations and completed online traffic school, detectives recommended criminal charges to be filed on Mr. Laris.  The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office approved one felony count of murder for causing the death of the 8-year-old victim, along with 3 felony counts of driving across a divided highway resulting in great bodily injury to the surviving siblings.

 

Mr. Laris is currently being held in custody on one million dollars bail.

 

No additional details are available regarding the investigation.  If you have any information related to this traffic collision, please contact Traffic Detective G. Anderson at [email protected].