MENTONE – A missing 85-year-old man who turned up missing on Friday was the victim of a hit-and-run in San Bernardino one day later.
John Preciado disappeared from his assisted care facility at 1376 Jasper Ave. sometime between midnight and 7 a.m., according to reports. For two days, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s had sent out alerts on the missing man who was described as being a schizophrenic. Eventually, Preciado wound up near his old neighborhood in San Bernardino, which is about 15 miles from the Mentone site where he lived.
Police said that Preciado was crossing West Rialto Ave. when he was struck by a car headed eastbound shortly before 9 p.m. The car was described as an older model Toyota. The driver did not stop, said police.
He was taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center and was pronounced dead at 12:53 a.m. on Saturday, according to the coroner’s office.
Preciado had not shown up for breakfast on Friday morning, according to reports. Officials at the Sunrise Residential Care Home alerted sheriff’s officials when he turned up missing after having toured the area in search of the missing man. Preciado, who was a resident at Sunrise since 1983, loved to hike, family members told authorities. Authorities believe he hiked the entire distance from Mentone to San Bernardino.
Sheriff’s officials had dispatched several alerts after Preciado turned up missing, issuing a current photo to media outlets. Family members had also taken part in the search.
Preciado had grown up in the area around Mt. Vernon Ave. and Seventh St., family members told police. It was near that area, at West Rialto Avenue, in which the fatal collision had taken place. The site where the collision occurred is considered a high crime area in the city, which already has a high murder rate in 2014.
Police are still searching for the motorist.
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