Giovanni Ceja, a Bexar County detention officer, resigned after he was arrested Monday afternoon in connection with a deadly drunken driving hit-and-run in California.
San Antonio Express-News
Jacob Beltran, Staff writer
A Bexar County detention officer resigned after he was arrested Monday afternoon in connection with a deadly drunk driving hit-and-run in California.
Giovanni Ceja, 31, was reportedly drunk and on vacation when he struck and killed a man fueling a car on the side of the highway Aug. 6 in Riverside, California, Sheriff Javier Salazar said.
The victim, 38, ran out of gas on the side of the road on Interstate 215 at the Route 91 interchange and called a loved one to bring him fuel. He was filling his tank when Ceja struck him. The relative witnessed the deadly incident.
Ceja did not stop and drove away from the scene. He left behind his bumper.
Over the next several days, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department put out a notice that they were searching for the car.
Salazar said that Ceja borrowed the car from a relative before the collision.
His relative alerted California authorities.
"He gave his relative some cockamamie story" about hitting a curb, Salazar said.
At 1:30 p.m. Monday, the sheriff's office received a call from Riverside area investigators that Ceja was wanted on charges of murder, DUI, and hit and run causing death under California's state penal code.
Authorities told the sheriff's office that they had communicated with Ceja and that his stories of the incident had been changing.
When Ceja reported for duty Monday morning, he hadn't said a word of the incident or that he was under investigation to anyone at the Bexar County Sheriff's Office, Salazar said.
The sheriff called the incident "unforgivable."
"I'm furious that we even have to be here," he said.
The sheriff said he confronted Ceja himself Monday afternoon. He had Ceja placed in handcuffs and gave him a yellow notepad, asking Ceja if he would resign.
The cuffs were removed, and Ceja was silent with his head down as he hand-wrote a resignation letter. He was then changed from his uniform to an orange jumpsuit, placed in cuffs once more and booked into the jail.
Ceja has been working for the Bexar County Sheriff's Office since 2018. He worked for another county for five years prior.
Arrangements are being made to hold Ceja in another county jail until he is extradited to California.