Inset: Jose Hernandez Pineda (Ramsey County Sheriff's Office). Background: News footage of the location in Maplewood, Minn., where Abdul Bakr Jafar was killed in a hit-and-run (WCCO).
A Minnesota man has avoided a long prison sentence after admitting to his involvement in a fatal hit-and-run.
Jose Hernandez Pineda, 47, pleaded guilty to criminal vehicular homicide on Aug. 17 and was sentenced Monday to 360 days in jail, which the judge allowed to be served at home with an electronic monitor, to be followed by five years' probation. He received credit for 55 days served. The sentencing came in connection with the hit-and-run death of 31-year-old Abdul Bakr Jafar, who was found lying on the side of a road in Maplewood, Minnesota, around 4:30 a.m. on Sept. 26, 2025.
Jafar was pronounced dead at the scene, and a witness saw a dark-colored van "speed off" down the road, according to a probable cause statement reviewed by Law&Crime.
According to the statement, the witness was delivering newspapers when he saw the van and was able to take a photo of the vehicle and get the license plate number. Police learned the van was registered to a local roofing company, and the address attached to it was the home of Hernandez Pineda's ex-wife. The ex-wife told police that she spoke to Hernandez Pineda that morning after she received a call from an officer.
Hernandez Pineda told his ex-wife that he did not hit anyone, but "thought he may have hit a deer."
Investigators tracked Hernandez Pineda's phone to a location in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, about two hours from where Jafar was found dead. The van was at the location, and investigators noted "heavy front-end damage." Investigators said that when they found Hernandez Pineda, who was doing a roofing job at the location, he had the smell of alcohol on his breath.
Police said a breath test was administered after Hernandez Pineda's arrest at 11:25 a.m. and registered a 0.06 blood alcohol concentration.
As the investigation progressed, police recovered surveillance video that showed the van connected to Hernandez Pineda hitting Jafar "head-on."
Local news outlet Pioneer Press was in the courtroom for the sentencing, where Jafar's parents were present but did not provide a victim impact statement. Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Jake Murphy said in court that Jafar's parents were part of the conversations surrounding the plea agreement.
Murphy told the court, "They emphasized the importance of their Islamic faith and the importance of forgiveness, but they also expressed what a profound loss this is for them and their family."
Hernandez Pineda told the court through an interpreter, "I should have stayed, but at the moment I was unable to."