A man has been taken into custody and charged with vehicular manslaughter after a hit-and-run crash in Barstow on June 1, 2026, killed a 71-year-old local resident identified as Thomas Rhynes III.
Officers from the Barstow Police Department were dispatched to the 1100 block of East Main Street at around 1:33 a.m. after receiving reports of a vehicle striking a pedestrian. Upon arrival, they found Thomas Rhynes III, a Barstow resident, unresponsive at the scene. Rhynes was rushed to Barstow Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Investigators determined that the vehicle involved was a black Chevrolet Tahoe, which had been abandoned in the nearby city of Victorville. Detectives were able to trace the vehicle back to its driver, identifying him as Kevin Lashawn Farmer.
Farmer was taken into custody on Thursday and booked into the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Detention Center, where he faces charges of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and hit and run resulting in injury or death.