An El Paso teen convicted in a Central El Paso hit-and-run is walking away with probation instead of a prison sentence after a crash that nearly killed a scooter rider. The 18-year-old was sentenced on March 12 to 10 years of probation and ordered to complete 500 hours of community service for an April 2025 collision that left 32-year-old scooter rider Samuel Bryan Ponce with life-threatening injuries while he was on a 2017 TaoTao scooter.
Court records show 18-year-old Carlos Manuel Rivera was convicted of a charge listed as “collision involving injury or death” and received a probation sentence, according to KDBC/CBS4. The outlet reports that Rivera will not serve jail time and must instead perform 500 hours of community service.
How the crash unfolded
An El Paso Police Department release states the crash happened just after 2 a.m. on April 12, 2025, in the 900 block of Piedras Street near Tularosa Avenue. Investigators said Rivera was driving a 2014 Chevrolet Malibu and was in a mandatory left-turn lane to head east on Tularosa when he continued straight instead and struck Ponce and his scooter. Ponce was rushed to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. According to police, Rivera then fled the scene, setting off a search for the vehicle that stretched on for weeks.
Arrest and investigation
Police eventually identified Rivera after receiving anonymous tips and arrested him on April 21, 2025, according to reporting by KVIA. Officers booked him on a $50,000 bond, and investigators said the Chevrolet Malibu involved should have noticeable front-end damage consistent with the collision.
Sentence in context
The charge in police documents is listed as “collision involving personal injury or death,” language that also appears in court filings and the police release. Sentencing for vehicle collisions can vary widely depending on the facts, from probation in this case to decades behind bars when juries conclude a driver’s conduct was particularly egregious. That range was on display in a recent El Paso case, where a jury delivered a 90-year prison term for a 2024 hit-and-run fatality following a parking lot confrontation, according to a report on a 90-year hit-and-run sentence, as per Hoodline.
Court documents and reporting also show Rivera must complete the 500 hours of community service as part of his sentence, per KDBC/CBS4. At the time of the investigation, police asked anyone with information about the crash to call the El Paso Police non-emergency line at 915-832-4400 or Crime Stoppers at (915) 566-TIPS, KVIA reported.
