{"id":261853,"date":"2026-04-10T23:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T23:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/261853\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T23:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T23:46:10","slug":"fresno-man-charged-in-fatal-hit-and-run-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/261853\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno man charged in fatal hit-and-run crash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"expander\" onclick=\"this.classList.toggle('open');\" wp_automatic_readability=\"1\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"summary\">AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnobee.com\/news\/nation-world\/national\/article280707640.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Timothy Seth Chavez was charged with four felonies, including vehicular homicide.Chavez turned himself in 19 hours after the crash and was ordered held without bail.The crash occurred April 6 when Chavez ran a red light, killing Martha Hernandez and her son Adrian Hernandez.<\/p>\n<p>A 22-year-old Fresno man is facing four felony charges, including vehicular manslaughter, for the hit-and-run <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"Follow nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnobee.com\/news\/local\/crime\/article315313855.html\">crash that killed a 41-year-old mother and her 9-year-old son<\/a> in the early morning hours of April 6.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"Follow nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnobee.com\/news\/local\/article315328657.html\">Timothy Seth Chavez, who turned himself in to authorities<\/a> 19 hours after the double-fatal collision near McKinley Avenue and Fresno Street, remained in the Fresno County jail on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>A Fresno County Superior Court judge on Thursday ordered that Chavez be held without bail. He is due to be arraigned April 23.<\/p>\n<p>Chavez is charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and two counts of leaving the scene of an accident, with death or permanent serious injury.<\/p>\n<p>If convicted on all charges, he faces nine years and four months in prison.<\/p>\n<p>Fresno police said the crash happened at about 2 a.m. when Chavez, who was driving a Dodge SUV, ran a red light at the central Fresno intersection, slamming into a Honda Pilot driven by Martha Hernandez. Also in the car was her 9-year-old son Adrian.<\/p>\n<p>The force of the crash sent Hernandez\u2019s car across multiple lanes, over a median and into a nearby canal where first responders were able to pull Hernandez, the driver, from her Honda. She later died at the hospital.<\/p>\n<p>Adrian Hernandez\u2019s body was carried down the canal and pulled from the water about 3 miles from the crash site.<\/p>\n<p>The day of the crash, Martha Hernandez and her son were returning home from celebrating Easter in Madera. Hernandez worked at a nail salon in Clovis.<\/p>\n<p>Court records show Chavez does not have a felony arrest record. He was charged with one misdemeanor in June 2025 for having a concealed weapon, but that case was dismissed.<\/p>\n<p>                                              <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775864766_859_IMG_1275.jpg\"   width=\"1140\" height=\"645\" title=\"IMG_1275.jpg\" alt=\"Family and friends gather to remember Martha Hernandez and her 9-year-old son at Chosen Salon in Clovis, where she worked. The pair were killed early Monday in a hit-and-run crash that thrust their car into a Fresno canal.\"\/>                                                                                    Family and friends gather to remember Martha Hernandez and her 9-year-old son at Chosen Salon in Clovis, where she worked. The pair were killed early Monday in a hit-and-run crash that thrust their car into a Fresno canal.                                                                                            NICK FENLEY                                                                            nfenley@fresnobee.com                                                                                                                                      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_2562 (1).jpeg\"   width=\"1140\" height=\"1140\" title=\"IMG_2562 (1).jpeg\" alt=\"A 9-year-old boy was pulled from a Fresno canal on Monday, April 6, 2026 after the vehicle he was in with his mother submerged near Fresno Street at McKinley Avenue.\"\/>                                                                                    A 9-year-old boy was pulled from a Fresno canal on Monday, April 6, 2026 after the vehicle he was in with his mother submerged near Fresno Street at McKinley Avenue.                                                                                            ANTHONY GALAVIZ                                                                            agalaviz@fresnobee.com                                                                                                                                      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775519239_480_IMG_2552.jpeg\"   width=\"1140\" height=\"855\" title=\"IMG_2552.jpeg\" alt=\"A woman died after her vehicle went into a Fresno, California canal on Monday, April 6, 2026.\"\/>                                                                                    A woman died after her vehicle went into a Fresno, California canal on Monday, April 6, 2026.                                                                                            ANTHONY GALAVIZ                                                                            agalaviz@fresnobee.com<br \/>\n        Related Stories from  Fresno Bee<\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnobee.com\/profile\/218451425\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770881371_732_0.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" alt=\"Profile Image of Robert Rodriguez\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n                    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                <a class=\"author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnobee.com\/profile\/218451425\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Robert Rodriguez<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n<p>            A Valley native, Robert has worked at The Fresno Bee since 1994, covering various topics including education, business, courts and agriculture.\n            <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom. Read our AI Policy. Timothy Seth Chavez was charged with four felonies,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-261853","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}