At 2:20:22 in the morning of Jan. 19, two Bakersfield Police Department officers were traveling south at 109 mph on Vineland Road between Wilson and Muller roads. Eleven seconds later, the patrol car, at 78 mph, barreled into a Honda Accord traveling west on Muller Road, killing its driver and seriously injuring a passenger.
The information comes from the GPS tracker in the patrol car, according to attorney Daniel Rodriguez, who is representing both victims’ families in a lawsuit filed against the city of Bakersfield earlier this year.
“The BPD patrol car T-boned the Honda’s passenger side,” Rodriguez said. “The impact was so great it got crushed in half, knocked a front wheel off and sent the car overturning several times into a third row of vineyards.”
Photographs from the crash scene speak for themselves. Both cars were left as mangled, twisted pieces of metal with the Honda Accord resting on the driver’s side as if a bomb planted underneath had been detonated. The two officers in the patrol car somehow escaped serious injury and managed to walk away.
According to a California Highway Patrol search warrant filed in February, the officer who was driving was speeding and ran a stop sign. Traffic on Muller Road has no stop sign and has the right of way. The fact the officer who was driving was going in excess of 100 mph is key.
“It puts the criminal charge on the table for the DA’s consideration,” Rodriguez said. “It could take it from a vehicular manslaughter charge to second-degree murder. The law is very clear on that. So here is the evidence from the horse’s own mouth that it is sufficient grounds for a murder charge to be made.”
The BPD is conducting an administrative investigation while a CHP Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team is focusing on the crash itself. Both agencies have been tight-lipped about what happened that fateful morning that led to a most unfortunate incident all around. The BPD has not said so, but it’s presumed the officers were heading to help other officers chasing down an unrelated suspect in a reportedly stolen car.
According to Rodriguez, the report also states that 23-year-old officer Ricardo Robles was the driver of the car, but the report also states the patrol car was checked out by his partner, 24-year-old Travione Cobbins. A DNA blood test was done on the patrol car’s airbags to determine who was driving, but so far the results are unknown. According to the BPD, Cobbins has since returned to duty, but Robles remains on administrative leave.
The answers to many questions remain unknown, such as whether the officers were given permission by superiors to go code 3, which means emergency lights and siren activated. According to the lawyer, “We have reason to believe the overheads were not on, the siren were not on and the headlights were not on, based on what witnesses had said in the area where we interviewed.”
The innocent victims in this case are 31-year-old Mario Lares of Bakersfield and Ana Hernandez, 34, also of Bakersfield. They were headed home after working a shift at Grimmway Farms nearby. Lares had recently married and planned to start a family. A graduate of Foothill High School, he is described as a compassionate person who was giving his co-worker a ride home when unexpectedly, tragedy struck. Lares died at the crash scene. Hernandez suffered serious injuries.
“The doctors had said Ana may never walk again, but we got some good news! She’s out of her wheelchair! The doctors say it’s because of her optimistic attitude; she strives to get better,” Rodriguez said.
Both the BPD and the CHP declined to comment on the report the officers were traveling at 109 mph seconds before crashing into Lares and Hernandez. The CHP has been investigating for eight months and there’s still no final report.
