A man and woman were arrested Monday, June 16 in connection with a hit-and-run that left a young woman critically injured during a “No Kings” protest in downtown Riverside over the weekend.
Around 9:10 p.m. Saturday, June 14, a black SUV drove toward a crowd of protesters marching along University Avenue between Orange and Main streets, striking a woman before fleeing the scene, according to the Riverside Police Department.
Paramedics treated the victim at the scene and transported her to a hospital, where she remains in critical but stable condition.
Detectives with the department’s Robbery-Homicide Unit, working with the Crime Analysis Unit and the METRO Team, identified the suspect vehicle and obtained its license plate number. On June 16, officers located and arrested Russell Prentice, 58, of Riverside, in the 4700 block of Jackson Street. He was booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and hit-and-run causing injury.
A second suspect, Candase Wenzel, 39, also of Riverside, was arrested on suspicion of accessory after the fact and destruction of evidence. She allegedly damaged the vehicle and attempted to hide it in an effort to prevent investigators from locating it, police spokesman Ryan Railsback said.
Police have not publicly released the name of the victim, but a GoFundMe page organized by friends identified her as 21-year-old Alexa Carrasco.
“We are horrified by the reckless attack by an SUV driver who rammed and ran over protesters on University Ave. on Saturday night,” Indivisible Riverside, a political activism organization involved with the protest, said in a statement.
The department declined to comment on whether the crash appeared politically motivated or intentional.