A 23-year-old Riverside man was arrested on Thursday, Aug. 15, after being charged with murder in the May 2023 death of an 8-year-old boy in a traffic collision in Riverside.
The Riverside Police Department said Andres Laris was driving more than 100 mph at the time of the collision despite being warned during traffic school following a speeding ticket in 2021 that it is dangerous to drive too fast. Laris also received a speeding ticket in 2020. Both were written in Norco.
The driving history, coupled with the warning as well as cannabis that police say was found in his bloodstream after the 2023 crash, prompted the District Attorney’s Office to file the second-degree murder charge. Such a charge, usually filed when a driver who caused a fatal crash while drunk had a previous DUI collision, is called implied malice under the theory that the driver knew from experience that his actions could injure or kill. Laris could face at least 15 years in prison if convicted as charged.
Laris also was charged with three felony violations of the Vehicle Code: crossing a divided highway causing great bodily injury.
He is being held at Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside in lieu of $1 million bail. He is due to be arraigned on Monday. Superior Court records do not indicate that he has retained an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
The lengthy, complicated Major Accident Investigation Team probe resulted in a 43-page report, said Officer Ryan Railsback, a Police Department spokesman. The DA’s Office charged Laris on July 3, and a warrant was issued for his arrest on July 29, Superior Court records show. He was arrested at home.
Police say the crash happened when Laris, driving his white 2020 Honda Civic west on Arlington Avenue, crossed into oncoming traffic near Stover Avenue and smashed into the grey 2015 Nissan Sentra driven by 25-year-old Kially Carbajal as she drove her siblings to school. She suffered a broken arm and foot.
A brother, Obed Liam Barbosa Carbajal, died. A 16-year-old brother, Mario, suffered significant head trauma that required surgery. Their 10-year-old sister, Kiara, suffered a major brain injury, two broken legs and a spinal fracture, according to a lawsuit filed against the city and Laris.
The lawsuit alleges that the city failed to move forward with a plan written in 2015 to install a traffic light and make other roadway safety improvements at the intersection.
Laris was critically injured in the crash as well.
The night of the crash, Arlington Avenue resident Jesse Marquez nailed plywood signs to electrical poles on both sides of the street, one reading “Drive slow” and the other “Be safe drive slow” in red paint. He said he had previously sought additional police patrols.
“They just fly through here,” Marquez said.
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