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"slug": "they-killed-people-with-their-big-rigs-california-let-them-keep-driving",
"title": "They Killed People With Their Big Rigs. California Let Them Keep Driving",
"publishDate": 1792530000,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "They Killed People With Their Big Rigs. California Let Them Keep Driving | KQED",
"labelTerm": {},
"content": "\n\u003cp>Loren Chow looked in the rearview mirror and had a terrifying realization.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>We’re going to get hit.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>There’s nothing I can do to get out of this.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Traffic outside \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fresno\">Fresno\u003c/a> had slowed. A semitruck loaded with fertilizer from Missouri, cruising at 65 miles per hour, hadn’t. By the time the driver, Baljit Singh, hit the brakes, it was too late. A fully loaded big rig traveling at that speed takes the length of nearly two football fields to stop.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Chow, his wife and their 17-year-old son were headed home from a college visit in June 2022. Singh’s red Freightliner smashed into the back of their SUV and flipped it. Jenny Chow died. Law enforcement said Singh caused the crash by driving too fast.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Loren Chow can’t talk about the details of the collision because of an active lawsuit against Singh, the trucking companies and vehicle manufacturers. But court filings, police reports and driving records lead to a simple conclusion:\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_AHK_CM_17-0d5a4f9b.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105318\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_AHK_CM_17-0d5a4f9b.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_AHK_CM_17-0d5a4f9b-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_AHK_CM_17-0d5a4f9b-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Loren Chow holds a photo of his wife, Jenny, at the home they shared in Los Altos on Aug. 19, 2026. Skeeter, the family’s dog who they adopted shortly after Jenny’s death, snuggles next to him. (Anna Hoch-Kenney/CalMatters)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>If the California Department of Motor Vehicles had done its job, Jenny Chow would still be alive.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That’s because in July 2021 — 11 months before he killed Chow — Singh let his semitruck drift over the median on Merle Haggard Drive in Kern County on his way to an Amazon distribution center, killing a 26-year-old man on a motorcycle. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The collision report from that crash shows police found pages from a log book, meant to keep track of Singh’s hours behind the wheel, “ripped into small pieces” in an overhead compartment. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Investigators with the California Highway Patrol alleged that Singh was fatigued at the time of the crash after driving more than the 12-hour limit and recommended he be charged with vehicular manslaughter.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But while the DMV knew about the earlier fatal crash and had the authority to suspend Singh’s driving privileges, it let him continue to drive a big rig until he killed again.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The death was completely avoidable. That accident never should have happened,” Chow said, barely choking back grief during an interview in his Bay Area living room, which is blanketed in smiling photos of Jenny and their two boys.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"12105319\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_CM_02-01d2827a.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105319\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_CM_02-01d2827a.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_CM_02-01d2827a-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_CM_02-01d2827a-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An altar dedicated to Jenny Chow, a wife and mother who died after the family’s car was hit by a truck, sits on a mantel in the Chow family’s Los Altos home on Aug. 19, 2026. (Anna Hoch-Kenney/CalMatters)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"12105320\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101426-Chow-Family-Car-CM-03-774ed6c5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105320\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101426-Chow-Family-Car-CM-03-774ed6c5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101426-Chow-Family-Car-CM-03-774ed6c5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101426-Chow-Family-Car-CM-03-774ed6c5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Jenny Chow’s car after the collision with Baljit Singh’s semi-truck. Screenshot via KGET\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I would have had my partner still. We’d be a family of four. Jenny would have seen Dylan and Tyler graduate from high school,” Chow said. “She would have seen so much if only the DMV had done what any person in his right mind would have done, which is to suspend the license.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A CalMatters investigation found that the DMV often lets professional drivers with a history of dangerous behavior behind the wheel stay on the road and command massive vehicles — buses filled with passengers, semis packed with goods, and tankers loaded with hazardous chemicals — even after a fatal crash.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Under California law, a truck driver convicted of manslaughter is disqualified from driving big rigs for 12 months. And any driver convicted of felony vehicular manslaughter is generally supposed to receive a three-year license revocation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But criminal cases can drag out, sometimes for years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Singh wasn’t convicted of manslaughter in Kern and Fresno counties until 2024. It was only then that the DMV took his license. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Singh and his attorney did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps://youtu.be/Ri1cA7fg4uE?si=NXWb3jWHjMK15Yuo\n\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>State law empowers the agency to investigate drivers involved in fatal and serious-injury collisions and suspend their licenses — with or without a conviction. But the DMV routinely does nothing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Even when the agency does act, records show it can take years to do so. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>We examined court filings and DMV records for more than 130 commercial licensees charged with vehicular manslaughter from 2019 to early 2024 following a fatal crash on the job or off-duty in a personal vehicle. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nearly half had a valid Class A or Class B license as of late May, authorizing them to drive the biggest vehicles on the road. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That includes a dozen drivers who got a ticket for unsafe driving in a commercial vehicle after having already killed someone.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>What’s more, vehicular manslaughter is supposed to be a three-point violation for a truck driver, but in almost every DMV record we reviewed, it was listed as two, the penalty for a regular driver. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1980\" height=\"856\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/092926-Deliquent-Registration-CM-01-03b6d737.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105322\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/092926-Deliquent-Registration-CM-01-03b6d737.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/092926-Deliquent-Registration-CM-01-03b6d737-160x69.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/092926-Deliquent-Registration-CM-01-03b6d737-1536x664.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The DMV notice Loren Chow received warning of delinquent registration fees on the vehicle involved in the fatal crash. \u003cbr> (Graphic composite by Miguel Gutierrez Jr./CalMatters)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The agency in a written statement said it relies on the courts to notify it when a conviction involves a commercial vehicle so it can assess the appropriate number of points.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Despite such examples of bureaucratic indifference, we did find one area of enforcement in which the DMV is aggressive: making sure people pay fines.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In 2023, months before the agency finally suspended Singh’s license, it started sending Loren Chow letters threatening to garnish his wages, seize his property and put a lien on his home.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The DMV said he was late paying his vehicle registration fee on the SUV that was totaled, by the truck driver it allowed to stay on the road.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>‘You’re gonna kill somebody’\u003c/strong> \u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The DMV’s inaction against commercial drivers is all the more consequential because of the clear risks they pose. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Truck driving is a grueling job involving long hours over vast distances. A fully loaded semi can total 80,000 pounds — 20 times the weight of a car. A speeding semitruck doesn’t do fender-benders; it obliterates.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“One thing goes wrong, you’re gonna kill somebody,” said Joe Rajkovacz, a longtime owner-operator and advocate with the Western States Trucking Association. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>About 4,000 people died in large-truck crashes in California from 2015 through 2024, the most recent decade for which \u003ca href=\"https://explore.dot.gov/views/DV_FARS_LRT/Home?%3Aembed=y&%3Aiid=1&%3AisGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y\">federal data\u003c/a> is available. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1988\" height=\"1116\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/01-Sub-First-Video-0cd2e157.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105340\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/01-Sub-First-Video-0cd2e157.jpg 1988w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/01-Sub-First-Video-0cd2e157-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/01-Sub-First-Video-0cd2e157-1536x862.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/01-Sub-First-Video-0cd2e157-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1988px) 100vw, 1988px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Trucks drive along Interstate 5 near Firebaugh on Aug. 26, 2026. (Larry Valenzuela for CalMatters)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>California’s licensing decisions have an impact beyond the state’s borders. Supersized trucks, long the backbone of our economy, haul billions of dollars of food from the state’s farms and online orders from teeming ports to destinations across the country. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tami Friedrich, president of the Truck Safety Coalition, a national advocacy group, said that’s why regulators need to do more to flag truck drivers who shouldn’t be on the road. She got involved in road safety issues after her sister and brother-in-law and their two children — Kris, Alan, Anthony and Brandie — died in a crash with a big rig just after Christmas in 1989. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“There’s a certain level of responsibility above and beyond a regular car driver that they should adhere to,” Friedrich said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The cases we examined suggest California is not holding them to that level.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A truck driver killed a 55-year-old man in Bakersfield in 2023, four years after court records show he allegedly injured a woman with his semi in a Sacramento crash. There’s nothing on his driving record to indicate that the DMV did anything in response. He got in yet another truck collision in 2025.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One driver was convicted of reckless driving and a hit-and-run, got in a collision in San Joaquin County in 2023, failed to show up to court in Sacramento on a traffic ticket and killed someone while driving in Amador County. Just this year he got a speeding ticket in Sacramento and in another collision in Amador. The DMV didn’t suspend his commercial driver’s license until September, after we asked about the case. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Another driver with five prior collisions — including one in 2021 in which he veered onto the shoulder in a semitruck and killed someone in Riverside County — was able to renew his license last year and almost immediately racked up two tickets for speeding in a commercial vehicle. He had a valid trucker’s license as of September.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While regular drivers can easily drive on a suspended license, a trucking company isn’t likely to turn over a loaded semi to a driver without a valid commercial license, experts said. That means DMV action would be all the more meaningful. But the agency often acts only when it’s legally required to and doesn’t use its immense discretionary power to ensure that unsafe drivers get off the road.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/DMVCM1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12081739\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/DMVCM1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/DMVCM1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/DMVCM1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Department of Motor Vehicles parking lot in central Fresno on Dec. 13, 2022. (Larry Valenzuela for CalMatters)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The DMV’s hands-off approach comes at a time of turmoil for the trucking industry. Experts say a proliferation of \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-dangerous-trucking-schemes-putting-americans-at-risk-60-minutes-transcript/\">fly-by-night operators\u003c/a> and training schools has undercut safety standards and fueled a race to the bottom for driving conditions. At the same time, the Trump administration \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2026/04/truck-drivers-california-2/\">has \u003c/a>alleged California is improperly giving commercial licenses to people who don’t meet immigration or language standards. The court files and DMV records we reviewed do not include drivers’ immigration status.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>We sent the DMV a list of commercial drivers along with questions for this story. The agency declined an interview request and wouldn’t comment on specific cases but, shortly after, took action against a dozen of the drivers, such as suspending licenses or stripping commercial driving privileges.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In an email, DMV spokesperson Jonathan Groveman wrote that the agency recently updated how it handles fatal crashes and manslaughter convictions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“During this modernization process, the DMV identified some cases that had not been previously reviewed and have now been processed or are currently being processed,” according to Groveman’s email.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He also wrote that law enforcement and the courts \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/06/california-courts-dmv/\">need to report information to the agency\u003c/a> in a timely manner in order for the DMV to act.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">‘What the hell?’\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Jon Israel knew what kind of damage a fully loaded big rig could do. He used to drive one. And as a tow truck operator in California’s vast Inland Empire, he’d spent years towing away mangled wreckage from crashes on one of the state’s busiest trucking corridors.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>So Israel would have been cautious one summer morning in 2018, when he pulled his overheating tow truck to the side of Interstate 10 and got out to check the radiator fluid, traffic whipping by. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But there’s not much you can do when a semi veers your way.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A police report shows that Marco Rodriguez let his tractor-trailer drift onto the shoulder. The massive side mirror struck Israel. He died on the roadway he’d long patrolled. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/093026-Jon-Israel-CM-5dcbe5e9.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105324\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/093026-Jon-Israel-CM-5dcbe5e9.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/093026-Jon-Israel-CM-5dcbe5e9-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/093026-Jon-Israel-CM-5dcbe5e9-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Jon Israel with one of the tow trucks he used to patrol California’s vast Inland Empire. (Courtesy of Maxine Israel)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Rodriguez’s DMV record shows he kept driving commercial vehicles even after the fatal crash, for which he was ultimately convicted of manslaughter. Police caught him speeding in commercial vehicles three separate times from 2022 through last year, and ticketed him one more time for a lane violation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Despite that record — a vehicular manslaughter conviction, plus four tickets for unsafe driving in commercial vehicles — the agency renewed Rodriguez’s trucker license in March, declining to use its discretion to keep him off the road.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“What the hell?” said Maxine Israel, Jon’s widow. “Are they waiting for him to kill somebody else?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Rodriguez’s criminal defense attorney, Mukund Arun, called the fatal crash “a very unfortunate, tragic incident” and emphasized that his client was only charged with a misdemeanor. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Prosecutors can charge vehicular manslaughter as a felony or a misdemeanor, with the more serious charge typically involving extreme behavior like drunk driving or excessive speeding. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Maxine Israel comes from a trucking family. She missed her high school graduation to go on a run in her dad’s semi. For years, she and Jon lived near a notoriously strict Riverside County checkpoint where the CHP weighed trucks and drivers could buy T-shirts that said, “I survived the Banning Scales.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1982\" height=\"1113\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/02-Sub-Second-Video-2ade2def.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105341\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/02-Sub-Second-Video-2ade2def.jpg 1982w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/02-Sub-Second-Video-2ade2def-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/02-Sub-Second-Video-2ade2def-1536x863.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/02-Sub-Second-Video-2ade2def-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1982px) 100vw, 1982px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Trucks and cars drive along Interstate 580 through Altamont Pass on Aug. 18, 2026. (Anna Hoch-Kenney/CalMatters)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But over time, she and her husband noticed that truck drivers seemed to get younger and younger. They drove fast, and their eyes often drifted from the road ahead. The big thing she and Jon talked about was how, unlike in some other states, truck drivers here often failed to slow down and switch lanes to pass people on the shoulder.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“California used to be really, really strict on the big trucks,” Israel said. But now, it’s “like they don’t care.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s been more than six years since Rodriguez was convicted of killing Jon Israel. In July, after CalMatters asked the DMV about the case, the agency finally disqualified Rodriguez from driving commercially. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>DMV records show it’s a one-year ban; he should be eligible to go back to driving trucks next summer.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Court research by Robert Lewis, Lauren Hepler, Anat Rubin, Sergio Olmos, Cayla Mihalovich, Ese Olumhense, Ko Bragg, Andrew Donohue and Jenna Peterson. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Thank you to our partner KGET for contributing to this piece after producing its \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kget.com/news/local-news/license-to-kill-a-17-news-special-report/\">\u003cem>own video\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Traffic outside \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fresno\">Fresno\u003c/a> had slowed. A semitruck loaded with fertilizer from Missouri, cruising at 65 miles per hour, hadn’t. By the time the driver, Baljit Singh, hit the brakes, it was too late. A fully loaded big rig traveling at that speed takes the length of nearly two football fields to stop.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Traffic outside \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fresno\">Fresno\u003c/a> had slowed. A semitruck loaded with fertilizer from Missouri, cruising at 65 miles per hour, hadn’t. By the time the driver, Baljit Singh, hit the brakes, it was too late. A fully loaded big rig traveling at that speed takes the length of nearly two football fields to stop.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Chow, his wife and their 17-year-old son were headed home from a college visit in June 2022. Singh’s red Freightliner smashed into the back of their SUV and flipped it. Jenny Chow died. Law enforcement said Singh caused the crash by driving too fast.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Chow, his wife and their 17-year-old son were headed home from a college visit in June 2022. Singh’s red Freightliner smashed into the back of their SUV and flipped it. Jenny Chow died. Law enforcement said Singh caused the crash by driving too fast.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Loren Chow can’t talk about the details of the collision because of an active lawsuit against Singh, the trucking companies and vehicle manufacturers. But court filings, police reports and driving records lead to a simple conclusion:\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Loren Chow can’t talk about the details of the collision because of an active lawsuit against Singh, the trucking companies and vehicle manufacturers. But court filings, police reports and driving records lead to a simple conclusion:\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_AHK_CM_17-0d5a4f9b.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105318\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_AHK_CM_17-0d5a4f9b.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_AHK_CM_17-0d5a4f9b-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_AHK_CM_17-0d5a4f9b-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Loren Chow holds a photo of his wife, Jenny, at the home they shared in Los Altos on Aug. 19, 2026. Skeeter, the family’s dog who they adopted shortly after Jenny’s death, snuggles next to him.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Anna Hoch-Kenney/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_AHK_CM_17-0d5a4f9b.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105318\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Loren Chow holds a photo of his wife, Jenny, at the home they shared in Los Altos on Aug. 19, 2026. Skeeter, the family’s dog who they adopted shortly after Jenny’s death, snuggles next to him.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Anna Hoch-Kenney/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>If the California Department of Motor Vehicles had done its job, Jenny Chow would still be alive.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>That’s because in July 2021 — 11 months before he killed Chow — Singh let his semitruck drift over the median on Merle Haggard Drive in Kern County on his way to an Amazon distribution center, killing a 26-year-old man on a motorcycle. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>That’s because in July 2021 — 11 months before he killed Chow — Singh let his semitruck drift over the median on Merle Haggard Drive in Kern County on his way to an Amazon distribution center, killing a 26-year-old man on a motorcycle. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The collision report from that crash shows police found pages from a log book, meant to keep track of Singh’s hours behind the wheel, “ripped into small pieces” in an overhead compartment. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The collision report from that crash shows police found pages from a log book, meant to keep track of Singh’s hours behind the wheel, “ripped into small pieces” in an overhead compartment. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Investigators with the California Highway Patrol alleged that Singh was fatigued at the time of the crash after driving more than the 12-hour limit and recommended he be charged with vehicular manslaughter.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Investigators with the California Highway Patrol alleged that Singh was fatigued at the time of the crash after driving more than the 12-hour limit and recommended he be charged with vehicular manslaughter.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But while the DMV knew about the earlier fatal crash and had the authority to suspend Singh’s driving privileges, it let him continue to drive a big rig until he killed again.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The death was completely avoidable. That accident never should have happened,” Chow said, barely choking back grief during an interview in his Bay Area living room, which is blanketed in smiling photos of Jenny and their two boys.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“The death was completely avoidable. That accident never should have happened,” Chow said, barely choking back grief during an interview in his Bay Area living room, which is blanketed in smiling photos of Jenny and their two boys.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_CM_02-01d2827a.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105319\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An altar dedicated to Jenny Chow, a wife and mother who died after the family’s car was hit by a truck, sits on a mantel in the Chow family’s Los Altos home on Aug. 19, 2026. \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_CM_02-01d2827a.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105319\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An altar dedicated to Jenny Chow, a wife and mother who died after the family’s car was hit by a truck, sits on a mantel in the Chow family’s Los Altos home on Aug. 19, 2026. \u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101426-Chow-Family-Car-CM-03-774ed6c5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105320\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Jenny Chow’s car after the collision with Baljit Singh’s semi-truck. Screenshot via KGET\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101426-Chow-Family-Car-CM-03-774ed6c5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105320\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Jenny Chow’s car after the collision with Baljit Singh’s semi-truck. Screenshot via KGET\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I would have had my partner still. We’d be a family of four. Jenny would have seen Dylan and Tyler graduate from high school,” Chow said. “She would have seen so much if only the DMV had done what any person in his right mind would have done, which is to suspend the license.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I would have had my partner still. We’d be a family of four. Jenny would have seen Dylan and Tyler graduate from high school,” Chow said. “She would have seen so much if only the DMV had done what any person in his right mind would have done, which is to suspend the license.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A CalMatters investigation found that the DMV often lets professional drivers with a history of dangerous behavior behind the wheel stay on the road and command massive vehicles — buses filled with passengers, semis packed with goods, and tankers loaded with hazardous chemicals — even after a fatal crash.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>A CalMatters investigation found that the DMV often lets professional drivers with a history of dangerous behavior behind the wheel stay on the road and command massive vehicles — buses filled with passengers, semis packed with goods, and tankers loaded with hazardous chemicals — even after a fatal crash.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Under California law, a truck driver convicted of manslaughter is disqualified from driving big rigs for 12 months. And any driver convicted of felony vehicular manslaughter is generally supposed to receive a three-year license revocation. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Under California law, a truck driver convicted of manslaughter is disqualified from driving big rigs for 12 months. And any driver convicted of felony vehicular manslaughter is generally supposed to receive a three-year license revocation. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But criminal cases can drag out, sometimes for years. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Singh wasn’t convicted of manslaughter in Kern and Fresno counties until 2024. It was only then that the DMV took his license. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Singh wasn’t convicted of manslaughter in Kern and Fresno counties until 2024. It was only then that the DMV took his license. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Singh and his attorney did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>State law empowers the agency to investigate drivers involved in fatal and serious-injury collisions and suspend their licenses — with or without a conviction. But the DMV routinely does nothing.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>State law empowers the agency to investigate drivers involved in fatal and serious-injury collisions and suspend their licenses — with or without a conviction. But the DMV routinely does nothing.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Even when the agency does act, records show it can take years to do so. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>We examined court filings and DMV records for more than 130 commercial licensees charged with vehicular manslaughter from 2019 to early 2024 following a fatal crash on the job or off-duty in a personal vehicle. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>We examined court filings and DMV records for more than 130 commercial licensees charged with vehicular manslaughter from 2019 to early 2024 following a fatal crash on the job or off-duty in a personal vehicle. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nearly half had a valid Class A or Class B license as of late May, authorizing them to drive the biggest vehicles on the road. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>That includes a dozen drivers who got a ticket for unsafe driving in a commercial vehicle after having already killed someone.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>What’s more, vehicular manslaughter is supposed to be a three-point violation for a truck driver, but in almost every DMV record we reviewed, it was listed as two, the penalty for a regular driver. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>What’s more, vehicular manslaughter is supposed to be a three-point violation for a truck driver, but in almost every DMV record we reviewed, it was listed as two, the penalty for a regular driver. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/092926-Deliquent-Registration-CM-01-03b6d737.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105322\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/092926-Deliquent-Registration-CM-01-03b6d737.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/092926-Deliquent-Registration-CM-01-03b6d737-160x69.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/092926-Deliquent-Registration-CM-01-03b6d737-1536x664.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The DMV notice Loren Chow received warning of delinquent registration fees on the vehicle involved in the fatal crash. \u003cbr>\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Graphic composite by Miguel Gutierrez Jr./CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/092926-Deliquent-Registration-CM-01-03b6d737.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105322\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The DMV notice Loren Chow received warning of delinquent registration fees on the vehicle involved in the fatal crash. \u003cbr>\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Graphic composite by Miguel Gutierrez Jr./CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The agency in a written statement said it relies on the courts to notify it when a conviction involves a commercial vehicle so it can assess the appropriate number of points.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Despite such examples of bureaucratic indifference, we did find one area of enforcement in which the DMV is aggressive: making sure people pay fines.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In 2023, months before the agency finally suspended Singh’s license, it started sending Loren Chow letters threatening to garnish his wages, seize his property and put a lien on his home.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In 2023, months before the agency finally suspended Singh’s license, it started sending Loren Chow letters threatening to garnish his wages, seize his property and put a lien on his home.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The DMV said he was late paying his vehicle registration fee on the SUV that was totaled, by the truck driver it allowed to stay on the road.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The DMV said he was late paying his vehicle registration fee on the SUV that was totaled, by the truck driver it allowed to stay on the road.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>‘You’re gonna kill somebody’\u003c/strong> \u003c/h2>\n",
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"\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>‘You’re gonna kill somebody’\u003c/strong> \u003c/h2>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The DMV’s inaction against commercial drivers is all the more consequential because of the clear risks they pose. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The DMV’s inaction against commercial drivers is all the more consequential because of the clear risks they pose. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Truck driving is a grueling job involving long hours over vast distances. A fully loaded semi can total 80,000 pounds — 20 times the weight of a car. A speeding semitruck doesn’t do fender-benders; it obliterates.\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>Truck driving is a grueling job involving long hours over vast distances. A fully loaded semi can total 80,000 pounds — 20 times the weight of a car. A speeding semitruck doesn’t do fender-benders; it obliterates.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“One thing goes wrong, you’re gonna kill somebody,” said Joe Rajkovacz, a longtime owner-operator and advocate with the Western States Trucking Association. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“One thing goes wrong, you’re gonna kill somebody,” said Joe Rajkovacz, a longtime owner-operator and advocate with the Western States Trucking Association. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>About 4,000 people died in large-truck crashes in California from 2015 through 2024, the most recent decade for which \u003ca href=\"https://explore.dot.gov/views/DV_FARS_LRT/Home?%3Aembed=y&%3Aiid=1&%3AisGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y\">federal data\u003c/a> is available. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>About 4,000 people died in large-truck crashes in California from 2015 through 2024, the most recent decade for which \u003ca href=\"https://explore.dot.gov/views/DV_FARS_LRT/Home?%3Aembed=y&%3Aiid=1&%3AisGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y\">federal data\u003c/a> is available. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/01-Sub-First-Video-0cd2e157.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105340\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/01-Sub-First-Video-0cd2e157.jpg 1988w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/01-Sub-First-Video-0cd2e157-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/01-Sub-First-Video-0cd2e157-1536x862.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/01-Sub-First-Video-0cd2e157-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Trucks drive along Interstate 5 near Firebaugh on Aug. 26, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Larry Valenzuela for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/01-Sub-First-Video-0cd2e157.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105340\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Trucks drive along Interstate 5 near Firebaugh on Aug. 26, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Larry Valenzuela for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>California’s licensing decisions have an impact beyond the state’s borders. Supersized trucks, long the backbone of our economy, haul billions of dollars of food from the state’s farms and online orders from teeming ports to destinations across the country. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>California’s licensing decisions have an impact beyond the state’s borders. Supersized trucks, long the backbone of our economy, haul billions of dollars of food from the state’s farms and online orders from teeming ports to destinations across the country. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Tami Friedrich, president of the Truck Safety Coalition, a national advocacy group, said that’s why regulators need to do more to flag truck drivers who shouldn’t be on the road. She got involved in road safety issues after her sister and brother-in-law and their two children — Kris, Alan, Anthony and Brandie — died in a crash with a big rig just after Christmas in 1989. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Tami Friedrich, president of the Truck Safety Coalition, a national advocacy group, said that’s why regulators need to do more to flag truck drivers who shouldn’t be on the road. She got involved in road safety issues after her sister and brother-in-law and their two children — Kris, Alan, Anthony and Brandie — died in a crash with a big rig just after Christmas in 1989. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“There’s a certain level of responsibility above and beyond a regular car driver that they should adhere to,” Friedrich said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The cases we examined suggest California is not holding them to that level.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The cases we examined suggest California is not holding them to that level.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A truck driver killed a 55-year-old man in Bakersfield in 2023, four years after court records show he allegedly injured a woman with his semi in a Sacramento crash. There’s nothing on his driving record to indicate that the DMV did anything in response. He got in yet another truck collision in 2025.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>A truck driver killed a 55-year-old man in Bakersfield in 2023, four years after court records show he allegedly injured a woman with his semi in a Sacramento crash. There’s nothing on his driving record to indicate that the DMV did anything in response. He got in yet another truck collision in 2025.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>One driver was convicted of reckless driving and a hit-and-run, got in a collision in San Joaquin County in 2023, failed to show up to court in Sacramento on a traffic ticket and killed someone while driving in Amador County. Just this year he got a speeding ticket in Sacramento and in another collision in Amador. The DMV didn’t suspend his commercial driver’s license until September, after we asked about the case. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>One driver was convicted of reckless driving and a hit-and-run, got in a collision in San Joaquin County in 2023, failed to show up to court in Sacramento on a traffic ticket and killed someone while driving in Amador County. Just this year he got a speeding ticket in Sacramento and in another collision in Amador. The DMV didn’t suspend his commercial driver’s license until September, after we asked about the case. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Another driver with five prior collisions — including one in 2021 in which he veered onto the shoulder in a semitruck and killed someone in Riverside County — was able to renew his license last year and almost immediately racked up two tickets for speeding in a commercial vehicle. He had a valid trucker’s license as of September.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Another driver with five prior collisions — including one in 2021 in which he veered onto the shoulder in a semitruck and killed someone in Riverside County — was able to renew his license last year and almost immediately racked up two tickets for speeding in a commercial vehicle. He had a valid trucker’s license as of September.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>While regular drivers can easily drive on a suspended license, a trucking company isn’t likely to turn over a loaded semi to a driver without a valid commercial license, experts said. That means DMV action would be all the more meaningful. But the agency often acts only when it’s legally required to and doesn’t use its immense discretionary power to ensure that unsafe drivers get off the road.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>While regular drivers can easily drive on a suspended license, a trucking company isn’t likely to turn over a loaded semi to a driver without a valid commercial license, experts said. That means DMV action would be all the more meaningful. But the agency often acts only when it’s legally required to and doesn’t use its immense discretionary power to ensure that unsafe drivers get off the road.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/DMVCM1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12081739\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Department of Motor Vehicles parking lot in central Fresno on Dec. 13, 2022. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Larry Valenzuela for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The DMV’s hands-off approach comes at a time of turmoil for the trucking industry. Experts say a proliferation of \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-dangerous-trucking-schemes-putting-americans-at-risk-60-minutes-transcript/\">fly-by-night operators\u003c/a> and training schools has undercut safety standards and fueled a race to the bottom for driving conditions. At the same time, the Trump administration \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2026/04/truck-drivers-california-2/\">has \u003c/a>alleged California is improperly giving commercial licenses to people who don’t meet immigration or language standards. The court files and DMV records we reviewed do not include drivers’ immigration status.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The DMV’s hands-off approach comes at a time of turmoil for the trucking industry. Experts say a proliferation of \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-dangerous-trucking-schemes-putting-americans-at-risk-60-minutes-transcript/\">fly-by-night operators\u003c/a> and training schools has undercut safety standards and fueled a race to the bottom for driving conditions. At the same time, the Trump administration \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2026/04/truck-drivers-california-2/\">has \u003c/a>alleged California is improperly giving commercial licenses to people who don’t meet immigration or language standards. The court files and DMV records we reviewed do not include drivers’ immigration status.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>We sent the DMV a list of commercial drivers along with questions for this story. The agency declined an interview request and wouldn’t comment on specific cases but, shortly after, took action against a dozen of the drivers, such as suspending licenses or stripping commercial driving privileges.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>We sent the DMV a list of commercial drivers along with questions for this story. The agency declined an interview request and wouldn’t comment on specific cases but, shortly after, took action against a dozen of the drivers, such as suspending licenses or stripping commercial driving privileges.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In an email, DMV spokesperson Jonathan Groveman wrote that the agency recently updated how it handles fatal crashes and manslaughter convictions.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In an email, DMV spokesperson Jonathan Groveman wrote that the agency recently updated how it handles fatal crashes and manslaughter convictions.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“During this modernization process, the DMV identified some cases that had not been previously reviewed and have now been processed or are currently being processed,” according to Groveman’s email.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“During this modernization process, the DMV identified some cases that had not been previously reviewed and have now been processed or are currently being processed,” according to Groveman’s email.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He also wrote that law enforcement and the courts \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/06/california-courts-dmv/\">need to report information to the agency\u003c/a> in a timely manner in order for the DMV to act.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>He also wrote that law enforcement and the courts \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/06/california-courts-dmv/\">need to report information to the agency\u003c/a> in a timely manner in order for the DMV to act.\u003c/p>\n"
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"attrs": {
"text": "‘What the hell?’",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">‘What the hell?’\u003c/h2>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Jon Israel knew what kind of damage a fully loaded big rig could do. He used to drive one. And as a tow truck operator in California’s vast Inland Empire, he’d spent years towing away mangled wreckage from crashes on one of the state’s busiest trucking corridors.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Jon Israel knew what kind of damage a fully loaded big rig could do. He used to drive one. And as a tow truck operator in California’s vast Inland Empire, he’d spent years towing away mangled wreckage from crashes on one of the state’s busiest trucking corridors.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>So Israel would have been cautious one summer morning in 2018, when he pulled his overheating tow truck to the side of Interstate 10 and got out to check the radiator fluid, traffic whipping by. \u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>So Israel would have been cautious one summer morning in 2018, when he pulled his overheating tow truck to the side of Interstate 10 and got out to check the radiator fluid, traffic whipping by. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But there’s not much you can do when a semi veers your way.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But there’s not much you can do when a semi veers your way.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A police report shows that Marco Rodriguez let his tractor-trailer drift onto the shoulder. The massive side mirror struck Israel. He died on the roadway he’d long patrolled. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>A police report shows that Marco Rodriguez let his tractor-trailer drift onto the shoulder. The massive side mirror struck Israel. He died on the roadway he’d long patrolled. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/093026-Jon-Israel-CM-5dcbe5e9.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105324\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/093026-Jon-Israel-CM-5dcbe5e9.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/093026-Jon-Israel-CM-5dcbe5e9-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/093026-Jon-Israel-CM-5dcbe5e9-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Jon Israel with one of the tow trucks he used to patrol California’s vast Inland Empire. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Courtesy of Maxine Israel)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/093026-Jon-Israel-CM-5dcbe5e9.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105324\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Jon Israel with one of the tow trucks he used to patrol California’s vast Inland Empire. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Courtesy of Maxine Israel)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Rodriguez’s DMV record shows he kept driving commercial vehicles even after the fatal crash, for which he was ultimately convicted of manslaughter. Police caught him speeding in commercial vehicles three separate times from 2022 through last year, and ticketed him one more time for a lane violation.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Rodriguez’s DMV record shows he kept driving commercial vehicles even after the fatal crash, for which he was ultimately convicted of manslaughter. Police caught him speeding in commercial vehicles three separate times from 2022 through last year, and ticketed him one more time for a lane violation.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Despite that record — a vehicular manslaughter conviction, plus four tickets for unsafe driving in commercial vehicles — the agency renewed Rodriguez’s trucker license in March, declining to use its discretion to keep him off the road.\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>Despite that record — a vehicular manslaughter conviction, plus four tickets for unsafe driving in commercial vehicles — the agency renewed Rodriguez’s trucker license in March, declining to use its discretion to keep him off the road.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“What the hell?” said Maxine Israel, Jon’s widow. “Are they waiting for him to kill somebody else?”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“What the hell?” said Maxine Israel, Jon’s widow. “Are they waiting for him to kill somebody else?”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Rodriguez’s criminal defense attorney, Mukund Arun, called the fatal crash “a very unfortunate, tragic incident” and emphasized that his client was only charged with a misdemeanor. \u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>Rodriguez’s criminal defense attorney, Mukund Arun, called the fatal crash “a very unfortunate, tragic incident” and emphasized that his client was only charged with a misdemeanor. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Prosecutors can charge vehicular manslaughter as a felony or a misdemeanor, with the more serious charge typically involving extreme behavior like drunk driving or excessive speeding. \u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>Prosecutors can charge vehicular manslaughter as a felony or a misdemeanor, with the more serious charge typically involving extreme behavior like drunk driving or excessive speeding. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Maxine Israel comes from a trucking family. She missed her high school graduation to go on a run in her dad’s semi. For years, she and Jon lived near a notoriously strict Riverside County checkpoint where the CHP weighed trucks and drivers could buy T-shirts that said, “I survived the Banning Scales.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Maxine Israel comes from a trucking family. She missed her high school graduation to go on a run in her dad’s semi. For years, she and Jon lived near a notoriously strict Riverside County checkpoint where the CHP weighed trucks and drivers could buy T-shirts that said, “I survived the Banning Scales.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/02-Sub-Second-Video-2ade2def.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105341\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/02-Sub-Second-Video-2ade2def.jpg 1982w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/02-Sub-Second-Video-2ade2def-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/02-Sub-Second-Video-2ade2def-1536x863.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/02-Sub-Second-Video-2ade2def-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> Trucks and cars drive along Interstate 580 through Altamont Pass on Aug. 18, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Anna Hoch-Kenney/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/02-Sub-Second-Video-2ade2def.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105341\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> Trucks and cars drive along Interstate 580 through Altamont Pass on Aug. 18, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Anna Hoch-Kenney/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But over time, she and her husband noticed that truck drivers seemed to get younger and younger. They drove fast, and their eyes often drifted from the road ahead. The big thing she and Jon talked about was how, unlike in some other states, truck drivers here often failed to slow down and switch lanes to pass people on the shoulder.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But over time, she and her husband noticed that truck drivers seemed to get younger and younger. They drove fast, and their eyes often drifted from the road ahead. The big thing she and Jon talked about was how, unlike in some other states, truck drivers here often failed to slow down and switch lanes to pass people on the shoulder.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“California used to be really, really strict on the big trucks,” Israel said. But now, it’s “like they don’t care.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“California used to be really, really strict on the big trucks,” Israel said. But now, it’s “like they don’t care.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>It’s been more than six years since Rodriguez was convicted of killing Jon Israel. In July, after CalMatters asked the DMV about the case, the agency finally disqualified Rodriguez from driving commercially. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>It’s been more than six years since Rodriguez was convicted of killing Jon Israel. In July, after CalMatters asked the DMV about the case, the agency finally disqualified Rodriguez from driving commercially. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>DMV records show it’s a one-year ban; he should be eligible to go back to driving trucks next summer.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>DMV records show it’s a one-year ban; he should be eligible to go back to driving trucks next summer.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Court research by Robert Lewis, Lauren Hepler, Anat Rubin, Sergio Olmos, Cayla Mihalovich, Ese Olumhense, Ko Bragg, Andrew Donohue and Jenna Peterson. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Court research by Robert Lewis, Lauren Hepler, Anat Rubin, Sergio Olmos, Cayla Mihalovich, Ese Olumhense, Ko Bragg, Andrew Donohue and Jenna Peterson. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Thank you to our partner KGET for contributing to this piece after producing its \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kget.com/news/local-news/license-to-kill-a-17-news-special-report/\">\u003cem>own video\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Thank you to our partner KGET for contributing to this piece after producing its \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kget.com/news/local-news/license-to-kill-a-17-news-special-report/\">\u003cem>own video\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "A CalMatters investigation finds that nearly half of commercial drivers had a valid license after being charged with vehicular manslaughter.",
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"title": "They Killed People With Their Big Rigs. California Let Them Keep Driving | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Loren Chow looked in the rearview mirror and had a terrifying realization.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>We’re going to get hit.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>There’s nothing I can do to get out of this.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Traffic outside \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fresno\">Fresno\u003c/a> had slowed. A semitruck loaded with fertilizer from Missouri, cruising at 65 miles per hour, hadn’t. By the time the driver, Baljit Singh, hit the brakes, it was too late. A fully loaded big rig traveling at that speed takes the length of nearly two football fields to stop.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Chow, his wife and their 17-year-old son were headed home from a college visit in June 2022. Singh’s red Freightliner smashed into the back of their SUV and flipped it. Jenny Chow died. Law enforcement said Singh caused the crash by driving too fast.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Loren Chow can’t talk about the details of the collision because of an active lawsuit against Singh, the trucking companies and vehicle manufacturers. But court filings, police reports and driving records lead to a simple conclusion:\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_AHK_CM_17-0d5a4f9b.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105318\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_AHK_CM_17-0d5a4f9b.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_AHK_CM_17-0d5a4f9b-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_AHK_CM_17-0d5a4f9b-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Loren Chow holds a photo of his wife, Jenny, at the home they shared in Los Altos on Aug. 19, 2026. Skeeter, the family’s dog who they adopted shortly after Jenny’s death, snuggles next to him. (Anna Hoch-Kenney/CalMatters)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>If the California Department of Motor Vehicles had done its job, Jenny Chow would still be alive.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That’s because in July 2021 — 11 months before he killed Chow — Singh let his semitruck drift over the median on Merle Haggard Drive in Kern County on his way to an Amazon distribution center, killing a 26-year-old man on a motorcycle. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The collision report from that crash shows police found pages from a log book, meant to keep track of Singh’s hours behind the wheel, “ripped into small pieces” in an overhead compartment. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Investigators with the California Highway Patrol alleged that Singh was fatigued at the time of the crash after driving more than the 12-hour limit and recommended he be charged with vehicular manslaughter.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But while the DMV knew about the earlier fatal crash and had the authority to suspend Singh’s driving privileges, it let him continue to drive a big rig until he killed again.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The death was completely avoidable. That accident never should have happened,” Chow said, barely choking back grief during an interview in his Bay Area living room, which is blanketed in smiling photos of Jenny and their two boys.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"12105319\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_CM_02-01d2827a.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105319\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_CM_02-01d2827a.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_CM_02-01d2827a-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/081926_L2K_Loren_Chow_CM_02-01d2827a-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An altar dedicated to Jenny Chow, a wife and mother who died after the family’s car was hit by a truck, sits on a mantel in the Chow family’s Los Altos home on Aug. 19, 2026. (Anna Hoch-Kenney/CalMatters)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"12105320\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101426-Chow-Family-Car-CM-03-774ed6c5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105320\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101426-Chow-Family-Car-CM-03-774ed6c5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101426-Chow-Family-Car-CM-03-774ed6c5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/101426-Chow-Family-Car-CM-03-774ed6c5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Jenny Chow’s car after the collision with Baljit Singh’s semi-truck. Screenshot via KGET\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I would have had my partner still. We’d be a family of four. Jenny would have seen Dylan and Tyler graduate from high school,” Chow said. “She would have seen so much if only the DMV had done what any person in his right mind would have done, which is to suspend the license.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A CalMatters investigation found that the DMV often lets professional drivers with a history of dangerous behavior behind the wheel stay on the road and command massive vehicles — buses filled with passengers, semis packed with goods, and tankers loaded with hazardous chemicals — even after a fatal crash.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Under California law, a truck driver convicted of manslaughter is disqualified from driving big rigs for 12 months. And any driver convicted of felony vehicular manslaughter is generally supposed to receive a three-year license revocation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But criminal cases can drag out, sometimes for years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Singh wasn’t convicted of manslaughter in Kern and Fresno counties until 2024. It was only then that the DMV took his license. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Singh and his attorney did not respond to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/Ri1cA7fg4uE'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/Ri1cA7fg4uE'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>State law empowers the agency to investigate drivers involved in fatal and serious-injury collisions and suspend their licenses — with or without a conviction. But the DMV routinely does nothing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Even when the agency does act, records show it can take years to do so. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>We examined court filings and DMV records for more than 130 commercial licensees charged with vehicular manslaughter from 2019 to early 2024 following a fatal crash on the job or off-duty in a personal vehicle. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nearly half had a valid Class A or Class B license as of late May, authorizing them to drive the biggest vehicles on the road. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That includes a dozen drivers who got a ticket for unsafe driving in a commercial vehicle after having already killed someone.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>What’s more, vehicular manslaughter is supposed to be a three-point violation for a truck driver, but in almost every DMV record we reviewed, it was listed as two, the penalty for a regular driver. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1980\" height=\"856\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/092926-Deliquent-Registration-CM-01-03b6d737.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105322\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/092926-Deliquent-Registration-CM-01-03b6d737.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/092926-Deliquent-Registration-CM-01-03b6d737-160x69.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/092926-Deliquent-Registration-CM-01-03b6d737-1536x664.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The DMV notice Loren Chow received warning of delinquent registration fees on the vehicle involved in the fatal crash. \u003cbr> (Graphic composite by Miguel Gutierrez Jr./CalMatters)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The agency in a written statement said it relies on the courts to notify it when a conviction involves a commercial vehicle so it can assess the appropriate number of points.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Despite such examples of bureaucratic indifference, we did find one area of enforcement in which the DMV is aggressive: making sure people pay fines.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In 2023, months before the agency finally suspended Singh’s license, it started sending Loren Chow letters threatening to garnish his wages, seize his property and put a lien on his home.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The DMV said he was late paying his vehicle registration fee on the SUV that was totaled, by the truck driver it allowed to stay on the road.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>‘You’re gonna kill somebody’\u003c/strong> \u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The DMV’s inaction against commercial drivers is all the more consequential because of the clear risks they pose. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Truck driving is a grueling job involving long hours over vast distances. A fully loaded semi can total 80,000 pounds — 20 times the weight of a car. A speeding semitruck doesn’t do fender-benders; it obliterates.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“One thing goes wrong, you’re gonna kill somebody,” said Joe Rajkovacz, a longtime owner-operator and advocate with the Western States Trucking Association. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>About 4,000 people died in large-truck crashes in California from 2015 through 2024, the most recent decade for which \u003ca href=\"https://explore.dot.gov/views/DV_FARS_LRT/Home?%3Aembed=y&%3Aiid=1&%3AisGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y\">federal data\u003c/a> is available. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1988\" height=\"1116\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/01-Sub-First-Video-0cd2e157.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105340\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/01-Sub-First-Video-0cd2e157.jpg 1988w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/01-Sub-First-Video-0cd2e157-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/01-Sub-First-Video-0cd2e157-1536x862.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/01-Sub-First-Video-0cd2e157-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1988px) 100vw, 1988px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Trucks drive along Interstate 5 near Firebaugh on Aug. 26, 2026. (Larry Valenzuela for CalMatters)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>California’s licensing decisions have an impact beyond the state’s borders. Supersized trucks, long the backbone of our economy, haul billions of dollars of food from the state’s farms and online orders from teeming ports to destinations across the country. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tami Friedrich, president of the Truck Safety Coalition, a national advocacy group, said that’s why regulators need to do more to flag truck drivers who shouldn’t be on the road. She got involved in road safety issues after her sister and brother-in-law and their two children — Kris, Alan, Anthony and Brandie — died in a crash with a big rig just after Christmas in 1989. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“There’s a certain level of responsibility above and beyond a regular car driver that they should adhere to,” Friedrich said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The cases we examined suggest California is not holding them to that level.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A truck driver killed a 55-year-old man in Bakersfield in 2023, four years after court records show he allegedly injured a woman with his semi in a Sacramento crash. There’s nothing on his driving record to indicate that the DMV did anything in response. He got in yet another truck collision in 2025.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One driver was convicted of reckless driving and a hit-and-run, got in a collision in San Joaquin County in 2023, failed to show up to court in Sacramento on a traffic ticket and killed someone while driving in Amador County. Just this year he got a speeding ticket in Sacramento and in another collision in Amador. The DMV didn’t suspend his commercial driver’s license until September, after we asked about the case. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Another driver with five prior collisions — including one in 2021 in which he veered onto the shoulder in a semitruck and killed someone in Riverside County — was able to renew his license last year and almost immediately racked up two tickets for speeding in a commercial vehicle. He had a valid trucker’s license as of September.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While regular drivers can easily drive on a suspended license, a trucking company isn’t likely to turn over a loaded semi to a driver without a valid commercial license, experts said. That means DMV action would be all the more meaningful. But the agency often acts only when it’s legally required to and doesn’t use its immense discretionary power to ensure that unsafe drivers get off the road.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/DMVCM1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12081739\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/DMVCM1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/DMVCM1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/DMVCM1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Department of Motor Vehicles parking lot in central Fresno on Dec. 13, 2022. (Larry Valenzuela for CalMatters)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The DMV’s hands-off approach comes at a time of turmoil for the trucking industry. Experts say a proliferation of \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-dangerous-trucking-schemes-putting-americans-at-risk-60-minutes-transcript/\">fly-by-night operators\u003c/a> and training schools has undercut safety standards and fueled a race to the bottom for driving conditions. At the same time, the Trump administration \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2026/04/truck-drivers-california-2/\">has \u003c/a>alleged California is improperly giving commercial licenses to people who don’t meet immigration or language standards. The court files and DMV records we reviewed do not include drivers’ immigration status.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>We sent the DMV a list of commercial drivers along with questions for this story. The agency declined an interview request and wouldn’t comment on specific cases but, shortly after, took action against a dozen of the drivers, such as suspending licenses or stripping commercial driving privileges.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In an email, DMV spokesperson Jonathan Groveman wrote that the agency recently updated how it handles fatal crashes and manslaughter convictions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“During this modernization process, the DMV identified some cases that had not been previously reviewed and have now been processed or are currently being processed,” according to Groveman’s email.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He also wrote that law enforcement and the courts \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/06/california-courts-dmv/\">need to report information to the agency\u003c/a> in a timely manner in order for the DMV to act.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">‘What the hell?’\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Jon Israel knew what kind of damage a fully loaded big rig could do. He used to drive one. And as a tow truck operator in California’s vast Inland Empire, he’d spent years towing away mangled wreckage from crashes on one of the state’s busiest trucking corridors.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>So Israel would have been cautious one summer morning in 2018, when he pulled his overheating tow truck to the side of Interstate 10 and got out to check the radiator fluid, traffic whipping by. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But there’s not much you can do when a semi veers your way.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A police report shows that Marco Rodriguez let his tractor-trailer drift onto the shoulder. The massive side mirror struck Israel. He died on the roadway he’d long patrolled. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/093026-Jon-Israel-CM-5dcbe5e9.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105324\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/093026-Jon-Israel-CM-5dcbe5e9.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/093026-Jon-Israel-CM-5dcbe5e9-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/093026-Jon-Israel-CM-5dcbe5e9-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Jon Israel with one of the tow trucks he used to patrol California’s vast Inland Empire. (Courtesy of Maxine Israel)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Rodriguez’s DMV record shows he kept driving commercial vehicles even after the fatal crash, for which he was ultimately convicted of manslaughter. Police caught him speeding in commercial vehicles three separate times from 2022 through last year, and ticketed him one more time for a lane violation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Despite that record — a vehicular manslaughter conviction, plus four tickets for unsafe driving in commercial vehicles — the agency renewed Rodriguez’s trucker license in March, declining to use its discretion to keep him off the road.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“What the hell?” said Maxine Israel, Jon’s widow. “Are they waiting for him to kill somebody else?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Rodriguez’s criminal defense attorney, Mukund Arun, called the fatal crash “a very unfortunate, tragic incident” and emphasized that his client was only charged with a misdemeanor. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Prosecutors can charge vehicular manslaughter as a felony or a misdemeanor, with the more serious charge typically involving extreme behavior like drunk driving or excessive speeding. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Maxine Israel comes from a trucking family. She missed her high school graduation to go on a run in her dad’s semi. For years, she and Jon lived near a notoriously strict Riverside County checkpoint where the CHP weighed trucks and drivers could buy T-shirts that said, “I survived the Banning Scales.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1982\" height=\"1113\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/02-Sub-Second-Video-2ade2def.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12105341\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/02-Sub-Second-Video-2ade2def.jpg 1982w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/02-Sub-Second-Video-2ade2def-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/02-Sub-Second-Video-2ade2def-1536x863.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/02-Sub-Second-Video-2ade2def-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1982px) 100vw, 1982px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Trucks and cars drive along Interstate 580 through Altamont Pass on Aug. 18, 2026. (Anna Hoch-Kenney/CalMatters)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But over time, she and her husband noticed that truck drivers seemed to get younger and younger. They drove fast, and their eyes often drifted from the road ahead. The big thing she and Jon talked about was how, unlike in some other states, truck drivers here often failed to slow down and switch lanes to pass people on the shoulder.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“California used to be really, really strict on the big trucks,” Israel said. But now, it’s “like they don’t care.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s been more than six years since Rodriguez was convicted of killing Jon Israel. In July, after CalMatters asked the DMV about the case, the agency finally disqualified Rodriguez from driving commercially. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>DMV records show it’s a one-year ban; he should be eligible to go back to driving trucks next summer.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Court research by Robert Lewis, Lauren Hepler, Anat Rubin, Sergio Olmos, Cayla Mihalovich, Ese Olumhense, Ko Bragg, Andrew Donohue and Jenna Peterson. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Thank you to our partner KGET for contributing to this piece after producing its \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kget.com/news/local-news/license-to-kill-a-17-news-special-report/\">\u003cem>own video\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "After Sleeping Tesla Driver Crashes Into Patrol Car, CHP Investigates",
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"headTitle": "After Sleeping Tesla Driver Crashes Into Patrol Car, CHP Investigates | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-highway-patrol\">California Highway Patrol\u003c/a> is investigating an incident in which a man fell asleep at the wheel of a self-driving Tesla and crashed into a CHP cruiser.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shortly before midnight Tuesday, CHP was on the scene of a fatal crash near Air Base Parkway in Fairfield, where one person had reportedly died. CHP closed several lanes of I-80, with first responders already on the scene.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Dashcam footage released by CHP on Thursday shows the Tesla speeding past road flares and cones before driving head-on into the rear of the parked patrol car. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>According to CHP, two officers standing behind the vehicle were able to run out of the way, but two other officers were inside the patrol car that the Tesla struck. In the video, one officer remains inside the vehicle after the collision, while another stumbles out and appears to collapse. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12042545\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A California Highway Patrol officer drives on State Route 52 on Sept. 28, 2024. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Both were suffering from serious injuries, and CHP said they both spent the night in a Fairfield hospital and were released the next day. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The person at the wheel of the Tesla was identified as a 22-year-old from Sacramento. He sustained minor injuries, and investigators said he was not inebriated. He told CHP at the scene that he was asleep while using the vehicle’s Full Self-Driving feature when the crash occurred. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s pretty alarming,” CHP spokesperson Sgt. Andrew Barclay told KQED. “From any first responder’s perspective, to hear somebody say they were letting their vehicle drive themselves while they were sleeping, it’s a pretty incredible thing.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Barclay said that the investigation will include downloading the Tesla’s data and onboard footage to determine the specifics of the crash. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Despite its name, Full Self-Driving is not fully autonomous. It is an SAE Level 2 driver assistance system that requires continuous driver supervision,” CHP wrote in \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeiP9wok36w/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&cplk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==&srtk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\">a social media post\u003c/a> about the incident. “Technology does not relieve drivers of their responsibility to safely operate their vehicles. Distracted and inattentive driving can have devastating consequences.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tesla did not respond to a request for comment, but CHP is holding the driver — not the company — accountable for the crash. According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.tesla.com/fsd\">Tesla’s website\u003c/a>, “currently enabled features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As for possible legal recourse, Barclay said it has taken a while for the law to catch up to new technology such as autonomous driving and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102184/california-cracks-down-on-e-motos-youth-e-bike-riders-with-new-laws\">e-bikes\u003c/a>. While there are clear vehicle code violations at play, he said, the law has not accounted for these exact scenarios. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“There’s no specific law that says if you sleep while operating a full self-driving vehicle, this is the crime,” Barclay said. “There’s nothing like that. So this is where we have to look at current laws on the books and see which applies, which doesn’t.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“Ultimately, it’s going to be up to the area office and their determination of where they want to go,” Barclay said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said that the CHP could potentially request that the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoke the man’s driver’s license, which the DMV can independently do without the CHP’s recommendation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Everything is on the table at the moment, nothing has been ruled out, we are continuing to evaluate the circumstances and determine the best course of action,” Barclay said. “I think we can all agree that someone who admits to sleeping while their vehicle drives is probably not someone who’s safe to be on the roadway.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-highway-patrol\">California Highway Patrol\u003c/a> is investigating an incident in which a man fell asleep at the wheel of a self-driving Tesla and crashed into a CHP cruiser.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Shortly before midnight Tuesday, CHP was on the scene of a fatal crash near Air Base Parkway in Fairfield, where one person had reportedly died. CHP closed several lanes of I-80, with first responders already on the scene.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Shortly before midnight Tuesday, CHP was on the scene of a fatal crash near Air Base Parkway in Fairfield, where one person had reportedly died. CHP closed several lanes of I-80, with first responders already on the scene.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Dashcam footage released by CHP on Thursday shows the Tesla speeding past road flares and cones before driving head-on into the rear of the parked patrol car. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>According to CHP, two officers standing behind the vehicle were able to run out of the way, but two other officers were inside the patrol car that the Tesla struck. In the video, one officer remains inside the vehicle after the collision, while another stumbles out and appears to collapse. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>According to CHP, two officers standing behind the vehicle were able to run out of the way, but two other officers were inside the patrol car that the Tesla struck. In the video, one officer remains inside the vehicle after the collision, while another stumbles out and appears to collapse. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Both were suffering from serious injuries, and CHP said they both spent the night in a Fairfield hospital and were released the next day. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The person at the wheel of the Tesla was identified as a 22-year-old from Sacramento. He sustained minor injuries, and investigators said he was not inebriated. He told CHP at the scene that he was asleep while using the vehicle’s Full Self-Driving feature when the crash occurred. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The person at the wheel of the Tesla was identified as a 22-year-old from Sacramento. He sustained minor injuries, and investigators said he was not inebriated. He told CHP at the scene that he was asleep while using the vehicle’s Full Self-Driving feature when the crash occurred. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It’s pretty alarming,” CHP spokesperson Sgt. Andrew Barclay told KQED. “From any first responder’s perspective, to hear somebody say they were letting their vehicle drive themselves while they were sleeping, it’s a pretty incredible thing.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“It’s pretty alarming,” CHP spokesperson Sgt. Andrew Barclay told KQED. “From any first responder’s perspective, to hear somebody say they were letting their vehicle drive themselves while they were sleeping, it’s a pretty incredible thing.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Barclay said that the investigation will include downloading the Tesla’s data and onboard footage to determine the specifics of the crash. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Barclay said that the investigation will include downloading the Tesla’s data and onboard footage to determine the specifics of the crash. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Despite its name, Full Self-Driving is not fully autonomous. It is an SAE Level 2 driver assistance system that requires continuous driver supervision,” CHP wrote in \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeiP9wok36w/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&cplk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==&srtk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\">a social media post\u003c/a> about the incident. “Technology does not relieve drivers of their responsibility to safely operate their vehicles. Distracted and inattentive driving can have devastating consequences.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Despite its name, Full Self-Driving is not fully autonomous. It is an SAE Level 2 driver assistance system that requires continuous driver supervision,” CHP wrote in \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeiP9wok36w/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&cplk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==&srtk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\">a social media post\u003c/a> about the incident. “Technology does not relieve drivers of their responsibility to safely operate their vehicles. Distracted and inattentive driving can have devastating consequences.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Tesla did not respond to a request for comment, but CHP is holding the driver — not the company — accountable for the crash. According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.tesla.com/fsd\">Tesla’s website\u003c/a>, “currently enabled features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Tesla did not respond to a request for comment, but CHP is holding the driver — not the company — accountable for the crash. According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.tesla.com/fsd\">Tesla’s website\u003c/a>, “currently enabled features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As for possible legal recourse, Barclay said it has taken a while for the law to catch up to new technology such as autonomous driving and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102184/california-cracks-down-on-e-motos-youth-e-bike-riders-with-new-laws\">e-bikes\u003c/a>. While there are clear vehicle code violations at play, he said, the law has not accounted for these exact scenarios. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“There’s no specific law that says if you sleep while operating a full self-driving vehicle, this is the crime,” Barclay said. “There’s nothing like that. So this is where we have to look at current laws on the books and see which applies, which doesn’t.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“Ultimately, it’s going to be up to the area office and their determination of where they want to go,” Barclay said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“There’s no specific law that says if you sleep while operating a full self-driving vehicle, this is the crime,” Barclay said. “There’s nothing like that. So this is where we have to look at current laws on the books and see which applies, which doesn’t.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“Ultimately, it’s going to be up to the area office and their determination of where they want to go,” Barclay said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He said that the CHP could potentially request that the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoke the man’s driver’s license, which the DMV can independently do without the CHP’s recommendation. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>He said that the CHP could potentially request that the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoke the man’s driver’s license, which the DMV can independently do without the CHP’s recommendation. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Everything is on the table at the moment, nothing has been ruled out, we are continuing to evaluate the circumstances and determine the best course of action,” Barclay said. “I think we can all agree that someone who admits to sleeping while their vehicle drives is probably not someone who’s safe to be on the roadway.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Everything is on the table at the moment, nothing has been ruled out, we are continuing to evaluate the circumstances and determine the best course of action,” Barclay said. “I think we can all agree that someone who admits to sleeping while their vehicle drives is probably not someone who’s safe to be on the roadway.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "The 22-year-old man from Sacramento told authorities that he had fallen asleep at the wheel while his Tesla was in self-driving mode.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-highway-patrol\">California Highway Patrol\u003c/a> is investigating an incident in which a man fell asleep at the wheel of a self-driving Tesla and crashed into a CHP cruiser.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shortly before midnight Tuesday, CHP was on the scene of a fatal crash near Air Base Parkway in Fairfield, where one person had reportedly died. CHP closed several lanes of I-80, with first responders already on the scene.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Dashcam footage released by CHP on Thursday shows the Tesla speeding past road flares and cones before driving head-on into the rear of the parked patrol car. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>According to CHP, two officers standing behind the vehicle were able to run out of the way, but two other officers were inside the patrol car that the Tesla struck. In the video, one officer remains inside the vehicle after the collision, while another stumbles out and appears to collapse. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12042545\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/CHP-Getty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A California Highway Patrol officer drives on State Route 52 on Sept. 28, 2024. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Both were suffering from serious injuries, and CHP said they both spent the night in a Fairfield hospital and were released the next day. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The person at the wheel of the Tesla was identified as a 22-year-old from Sacramento. He sustained minor injuries, and investigators said he was not inebriated. He told CHP at the scene that he was asleep while using the vehicle’s Full Self-Driving feature when the crash occurred. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s pretty alarming,” CHP spokesperson Sgt. Andrew Barclay told KQED. “From any first responder’s perspective, to hear somebody say they were letting their vehicle drive themselves while they were sleeping, it’s a pretty incredible thing.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Barclay said that the investigation will include downloading the Tesla’s data and onboard footage to determine the specifics of the crash. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Despite its name, Full Self-Driving is not fully autonomous. It is an SAE Level 2 driver assistance system that requires continuous driver supervision,” CHP wrote in \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeiP9wok36w/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&cplk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==&srtk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\">a social media post\u003c/a> about the incident. “Technology does not relieve drivers of their responsibility to safely operate their vehicles. Distracted and inattentive driving can have devastating consequences.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tesla did not respond to a request for comment, but CHP is holding the driver — not the company — accountable for the crash. According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.tesla.com/fsd\">Tesla’s website\u003c/a>, “currently enabled features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As for possible legal recourse, Barclay said it has taken a while for the law to catch up to new technology such as autonomous driving and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102184/california-cracks-down-on-e-motos-youth-e-bike-riders-with-new-laws\">e-bikes\u003c/a>. While there are clear vehicle code violations at play, he said, the law has not accounted for these exact scenarios. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“There’s no specific law that says if you sleep while operating a full self-driving vehicle, this is the crime,” Barclay said. “There’s nothing like that. So this is where we have to look at current laws on the books and see which applies, which doesn’t.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“Ultimately, it’s going to be up to the area office and their determination of where they want to go,” Barclay said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said that the CHP could potentially request that the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoke the man’s driver’s license, which the DMV can independently do without the CHP’s recommendation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Everything is on the table at the moment, nothing has been ruled out, we are continuing to evaluate the circumstances and determine the best course of action,” Barclay said. “I think we can all agree that someone who admits to sleeping while their vehicle drives is probably not someone who’s safe to be on the roadway.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "oakland-jury-awards-5-million-to-sonoma-county-man-for-wrongful-arrest",
"title": "Oakland Jury Awards $5 Million to Sonoma County Man for Wrongful Arrest",
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"headTitle": "Oakland Jury Awards $5 Million to Sonoma County Man for Wrongful Arrest | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-highway-patrol\">California Highway Patrol\u003c/a> officer and sergeant must pay $5 million to a Sonoma County man for violating his constitutional rights in an unlawful arrest, an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097290/oakland-jury-to-decide-if-california-highway-patrol-officers-committed-unlawful-arrest\">Oakland federal jury \u003c/a>decided Monday. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The jury found that CHP Officer Jayce Ray and Sgt. John Snider acted with “malice, recklessness, oppression or a conscious or reckless disregard” for the rights of Nicholas La Motte when they arrested him without probable cause in April 2023 for driving under the influence.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>La Motte testified last week that around 1:30 a.m. on April 25, 2023, he was driving home from visiting his grandmother in San Francisco. While driving northbound on U.S. 101, he noticed he was being followed by a car — it was Ray in his cruiser. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ray pulled him over, and La Motte began filming the encounter, footage that proved to key in his case against CHP. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ray impounded La Motte’s Mercedes and arrested him, claiming he showed signs of intoxication, including red eyes. He then took La Motte to a nearby hospital to have his blood drawn. La Motte argued in his lawsuit that this violated his constitutional rights against unnecessary search and seizure because Ray lacked probable cause for the arrest.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2329\" height=\"1308\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12097803\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1.jpg 2329w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1-2000x1123.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1-1536x863.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1-2048x1150.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2329px) 100vw, 2329px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sonoma County resident Nicholas La Motte (left) poses for a photo with his attorney, Izaak Schwaiger. A jury found LaMotte’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated during a 2023 unlawful arrest by two California Highway Patrol officers. (Courtesy of Nicholas La Motte)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>CHP further justified La Motte’s arrest with a set of field sobriety tests that Snider administered at the Santa Rosa station. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Six months later, the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office formally dropped charges against La Motte.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The jury’s verdict is significant because law enforcement and other government officials are generally protected from liability while on the job, under a legal framework known as qualified immunity. They lose that protection, however, if they violate someone’s rights while performing their duties. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That’s what the jury found happened here. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Izaak Schwaiger, La Motte’s attorney, said that, had his client not recorded the incident, there wouldn’t have been any evidence to combat the police’s version of events because CHP doesn’t require its officers to wear body cameras. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I would say this is probably the 20th case that we received calls about, the CHP in and around the Sonoma County area making false arrests, but there was never any evidence,” Schwaiger said. “And what can you do when it’s the word of the individual against the word of the cops?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Schwaiger said he took La Motte’s case because he was “waiting for the right one to come, where somebody had done something to preserve some kind of evidence, so that we could prove that this was going on, because it happens a lot.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“But without proof,” the lawyer continued, “what can you do? Nick had that video, and the video showed that these cops were lying, and that’s what carried the case.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Schwaiger said La Motte’s case was unique because it was simply about a wrongful arrest. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The DA rejected this case because there wasn’t enough evidence that he had committed a crime,” Schwaiger said, adding that La Motte wasn’t prosecuted, nor held in jail for a significant time, nor physically beaten by the officers. “None of those things.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It was super important to Nick what happened. It profoundly affected his life, and he did a really good job of explaining that to the jury, such that when it came time to ask the jury for a verdict, we just said, ‘Do what you feel is right,’” Schwaiger said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The jury’s verdict awarded La Motte $3 million in punitive damages — an amount for which Snider and Ray will not likely be personally liable, Schwaiger said — and $2 million in compensatory damages.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"alignleft size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1380\" height=\"2000\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_2-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12097799\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_2-KQED.jpg 1380w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_2-KQED-160x232.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_2-KQED-1060x1536.jpg 1060w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1380px) 100vw, 1380px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sonoma County resident Nicholas La Motte (right) poses for a photo with his daughter. A jury found LaMotte’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated during a 2023 unlawful arrest by two California Highway Patrol officers. (Courtesy of Nicholas La Motte)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>“The law says California doesn’t have to cover them,” Schwaiger said. “In practice, it’s highly likely that the state will cover them because there will be a lot of pressure from the police unions and whatnot to do that. And the police unions are quite powerful.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>CHP and the California Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://law.stanford.edu/robert-weisberg/\">Robert Weisberg\u003c/a>, a Stanford law professor, said a case like La Motte’s doesn’t usually unfold with a jury award because an unlawful arrest is usually challenged in the middle of criminal proceedings, not in a civil case. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s rare that people have the legal resources or the incentive to challenge an arrest in a civil suit like this, and they are very hard to win,” Weisberg said. “Because the most obvious fact is an arrest isn’t illegal simply because it turns out that, in retrospect, there wasn’t probable cause.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The plaintiff has to prove that, in effect, no reasonable officer in that situation could have surmised that there was probable cause,” Weisberg continued. “And that’s a hard standard to meet.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In defending the officers, the state called Capt. Lorenzo Glenn of the Anaheim Police Department, who testified that he reviewed the case file and found the officer’s actions to be reasonable. But when questioned by Schwaiger, Glenn admitted he wasn’t an expert in DUI or drug recognition.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I find it just bizarre that they put on a so-called expert witness who acknowledged that he wasn’t an expert,” Weisberg said. “It’s not that hard to find experts who will testify for the government in this regard.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The government lawyering in this case was less than impressive, let’s put it that way,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Weisberg said the case was unusual because the government’s evidence supporting the arrest was weak, La Motte recorded his arrest, and the police weren’t afforded qualified immunity. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This is like the perfect case for a plaintiff,” he said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, the California Justice Department, in defense of Ray and Snider, moved to have the case thrown out on the basis of qualified immunity. It lost its appeal of a district judge’s ruling at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which found the state’s petition to be frivolous. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín denied a similar motion last week after La Motte’s attorneys rested their case, saying the DOJ further failed to bring up qualified immunity earlier in the proceedings.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Schwaiger said La Motte called him Tuesday morning and said that he hoped people would hear about the verdict and take similar action, namely by safely filming interactions with police. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This was the result of a yearslong process where a man, against all odds, decided to stand up for himself and refused to say that what happened was OK,” Schwaiger said. “There’s an important lesson there, and I think if more people do stand up for themselves, that’s how we really affect change.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The jury found that CHP Officer Jayce Ray and Sgt. John Snider acted with “malice, recklessness, oppression or a conscious or reckless disregard” for the rights of Nicholas La Motte when they arrested him without probable cause in April 2023 for driving under the influence.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>La Motte testified last week that around 1:30 a.m. on April 25, 2023, he was driving home from visiting his grandmother in San Francisco. While driving northbound on U.S. 101, he noticed he was being followed by a car — it was Ray in his cruiser. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>La Motte testified last week that around 1:30 a.m. on April 25, 2023, he was driving home from visiting his grandmother in San Francisco. While driving northbound on U.S. 101, he noticed he was being followed by a car — it was Ray in his cruiser. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Ray impounded La Motte’s Mercedes and arrested him, claiming he showed signs of intoxication, including red eyes. He then took La Motte to a nearby hospital to have his blood drawn. La Motte argued in his lawsuit that this violated his constitutional rights against unnecessary search and seizure because Ray lacked probable cause for the arrest.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Ray impounded La Motte’s Mercedes and arrested him, claiming he showed signs of intoxication, including red eyes. He then took La Motte to a nearby hospital to have his blood drawn. La Motte argued in his lawsuit that this violated his constitutional rights against unnecessary search and seizure because Ray lacked probable cause for the arrest.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12097803\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1.jpg 2329w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1-2000x1123.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1-1536x863.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1-2048x1150.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sonoma County resident Nicholas La Motte (left) poses for a photo with his attorney, Izaak Schwaiger. A jury found LaMotte’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated during a 2023 unlawful arrest by two California Highway Patrol officers. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Courtesy of Nicholas La Motte)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>CHP further justified La Motte’s arrest with a set of field sobriety tests that Snider administered at the Santa Rosa station. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Six months later, the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office formally dropped charges against La Motte.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The jury’s verdict is significant because law enforcement and other government officials are generally protected from liability while on the job, under a legal framework known as qualified immunity. They lose that protection, however, if they violate someone’s rights while performing their duties. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The jury’s verdict is significant because law enforcement and other government officials are generally protected from liability while on the job, under a legal framework known as qualified immunity. They lose that protection, however, if they violate someone’s rights while performing their duties. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Izaak Schwaiger, La Motte’s attorney, said that, had his client not recorded the incident, there wouldn’t have been any evidence to combat the police’s version of events because CHP doesn’t require its officers to wear body cameras. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Izaak Schwaiger, La Motte’s attorney, said that, had his client not recorded the incident, there wouldn’t have been any evidence to combat the police’s version of events because CHP doesn’t require its officers to wear body cameras. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I would say this is probably the 20th case that we received calls about, the CHP in and around the Sonoma County area making false arrests, but there was never any evidence,” Schwaiger said. “And what can you do when it’s the word of the individual against the word of the cops?”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Schwaiger said he took La Motte’s case because he was “waiting for the right one to come, where somebody had done something to preserve some kind of evidence, so that we could prove that this was going on, because it happens a lot.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“But without proof,” the lawyer continued, “what can you do? Nick had that video, and the video showed that these cops were lying, and that’s what carried the case.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Schwaiger said La Motte’s case was unique because it was simply about a wrongful arrest. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The DA rejected this case because there wasn’t enough evidence that he had committed a crime,” Schwaiger said, adding that La Motte wasn’t prosecuted, nor held in jail for a significant time, nor physically beaten by the officers. “None of those things.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“The DA rejected this case because there wasn’t enough evidence that he had committed a crime,” Schwaiger said, adding that La Motte wasn’t prosecuted, nor held in jail for a significant time, nor physically beaten by the officers. “None of those things.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It was super important to Nick what happened. It profoundly affected his life, and he did a really good job of explaining that to the jury, such that when it came time to ask the jury for a verdict, we just said, ‘Do what you feel is right,’” Schwaiger said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The jury’s verdict awarded La Motte $3 million in punitive damages — an amount for which Snider and Ray will not likely be personally liable, Schwaiger said — and $2 million in compensatory damages.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The jury’s verdict awarded La Motte $3 million in punitive damages — an amount for which Snider and Ray will not likely be personally liable, Schwaiger said — and $2 million in compensatory damages.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_2-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12097799\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_2-KQED.jpg 1380w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_2-KQED-160x232.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_2-KQED-1060x1536.jpg 1060w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sonoma County resident Nicholas La Motte (right) poses for a photo with his daughter. A jury found LaMotte’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated during a 2023 unlawful arrest by two California Highway Patrol officers. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Courtesy of Nicholas La Motte)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_2-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12097799\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sonoma County resident Nicholas La Motte (right) poses for a photo with his daughter. A jury found LaMotte’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated during a 2023 unlawful arrest by two California Highway Patrol officers. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Courtesy of Nicholas La Motte)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The law says California doesn’t have to cover them,” Schwaiger said. “In practice, it’s highly likely that the state will cover them because there will be a lot of pressure from the police unions and whatnot to do that. And the police unions are quite powerful.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“The law says California doesn’t have to cover them,” Schwaiger said. “In practice, it’s highly likely that the state will cover them because there will be a lot of pressure from the police unions and whatnot to do that. And the police unions are quite powerful.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>CHP and the California Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://law.stanford.edu/robert-weisberg/\">Robert Weisberg\u003c/a>, a Stanford law professor, said a case like La Motte’s doesn’t usually unfold with a jury award because an unlawful arrest is usually challenged in the middle of criminal proceedings, not in a civil case. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://law.stanford.edu/robert-weisberg/\">Robert Weisberg\u003c/a>, a Stanford law professor, said a case like La Motte’s doesn’t usually unfold with a jury award because an unlawful arrest is usually challenged in the middle of criminal proceedings, not in a civil case. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It’s rare that people have the legal resources or the incentive to challenge an arrest in a civil suit like this, and they are very hard to win,” Weisberg said. “Because the most obvious fact is an arrest isn’t illegal simply because it turns out that, in retrospect, there wasn’t probable cause.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“It’s rare that people have the legal resources or the incentive to challenge an arrest in a civil suit like this, and they are very hard to win,” Weisberg said. “Because the most obvious fact is an arrest isn’t illegal simply because it turns out that, in retrospect, there wasn’t probable cause.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The plaintiff has to prove that, in effect, no reasonable officer in that situation could have surmised that there was probable cause,” Weisberg continued. “And that’s a hard standard to meet.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“The plaintiff has to prove that, in effect, no reasonable officer in that situation could have surmised that there was probable cause,” Weisberg continued. “And that’s a hard standard to meet.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In defending the officers, the state called Capt. Lorenzo Glenn of the Anaheim Police Department, who testified that he reviewed the case file and found the officer’s actions to be reasonable. But when questioned by Schwaiger, Glenn admitted he wasn’t an expert in DUI or drug recognition.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In defending the officers, the state called Capt. Lorenzo Glenn of the Anaheim Police Department, who testified that he reviewed the case file and found the officer’s actions to be reasonable. But when questioned by Schwaiger, Glenn admitted he wasn’t an expert in DUI or drug recognition.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I find it just bizarre that they put on a so-called expert witness who acknowledged that he wasn’t an expert,” Weisberg said. “It’s not that hard to find experts who will testify for the government in this regard.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I find it just bizarre that they put on a so-called expert witness who acknowledged that he wasn’t an expert,” Weisberg said. “It’s not that hard to find experts who will testify for the government in this regard.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The government lawyering in this case was less than impressive, let’s put it that way,” he added.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Weisberg said the case was unusual because the government’s evidence supporting the arrest was weak, La Motte recorded his arrest, and the police weren’t afforded qualified immunity. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, the California Justice Department, in defense of Ray and Snider, moved to have the case thrown out on the basis of qualified immunity. It lost its appeal of a district judge’s ruling at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which found the state’s petition to be frivolous. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, the California Justice Department, in defense of Ray and Snider, moved to have the case thrown out on the basis of qualified immunity. It lost its appeal of a district judge’s ruling at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which found the state’s petition to be frivolous. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín denied a similar motion last week after La Motte’s attorneys rested their case, saying the DOJ further failed to bring up qualified immunity earlier in the proceedings.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín denied a similar motion last week after La Motte’s attorneys rested their case, saying the DOJ further failed to bring up qualified immunity earlier in the proceedings.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Schwaiger said La Motte called him Tuesday morning and said that he hoped people would hear about the verdict and take similar action, namely by safely filming interactions with police. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Schwaiger said La Motte called him Tuesday morning and said that he hoped people would hear about the verdict and take similar action, namely by safely filming interactions with police. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“This was the result of a yearslong process where a man, against all odds, decided to stand up for himself and refused to say that what happened was OK,” Schwaiger said. “There’s an important lesson there, and I think if more people do stand up for themselves, that’s how we really affect change.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“This was the result of a yearslong process where a man, against all odds, decided to stand up for himself and refused to say that what happened was OK,” Schwaiger said. “There’s an important lesson there, and I think if more people do stand up for themselves, that’s how we really affect change.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "Nicholas La Motte had claimed in a federal civil rights lawsuit that California Highway Patrol arrested him without cause.\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-highway-patrol\">California Highway Patrol\u003c/a> officer and sergeant must pay $5 million to a Sonoma County man for violating his constitutional rights in an unlawful arrest, an \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097290/oakland-jury-to-decide-if-california-highway-patrol-officers-committed-unlawful-arrest\">Oakland federal jury \u003c/a>decided Monday. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The jury found that CHP Officer Jayce Ray and Sgt. John Snider acted with “malice, recklessness, oppression or a conscious or reckless disregard” for the rights of Nicholas La Motte when they arrested him without probable cause in April 2023 for driving under the influence.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>La Motte testified last week that around 1:30 a.m. on April 25, 2023, he was driving home from visiting his grandmother in San Francisco. While driving northbound on U.S. 101, he noticed he was being followed by a car — it was Ray in his cruiser. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ray pulled him over, and La Motte began filming the encounter, footage that proved to key in his case against CHP. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ray impounded La Motte’s Mercedes and arrested him, claiming he showed signs of intoxication, including red eyes. He then took La Motte to a nearby hospital to have his blood drawn. La Motte argued in his lawsuit that this violated his constitutional rights against unnecessary search and seizure because Ray lacked probable cause for the arrest.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2329\" height=\"1308\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12097803\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1.jpg 2329w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1-2000x1123.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1-1536x863.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1-2048x1150.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_horizontal-1-1200x675.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2329px) 100vw, 2329px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sonoma County resident Nicholas La Motte (left) poses for a photo with his attorney, Izaak Schwaiger. A jury found LaMotte’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated during a 2023 unlawful arrest by two California Highway Patrol officers. (Courtesy of Nicholas La Motte)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>CHP further justified La Motte’s arrest with a set of field sobriety tests that Snider administered at the Santa Rosa station. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Six months later, the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office formally dropped charges against La Motte.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The jury’s verdict is significant because law enforcement and other government officials are generally protected from liability while on the job, under a legal framework known as qualified immunity. They lose that protection, however, if they violate someone’s rights while performing their duties. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That’s what the jury found happened here. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Izaak Schwaiger, La Motte’s attorney, said that, had his client not recorded the incident, there wouldn’t have been any evidence to combat the police’s version of events because CHP doesn’t require its officers to wear body cameras. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I would say this is probably the 20th case that we received calls about, the CHP in and around the Sonoma County area making false arrests, but there was never any evidence,” Schwaiger said. “And what can you do when it’s the word of the individual against the word of the cops?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Schwaiger said he took La Motte’s case because he was “waiting for the right one to come, where somebody had done something to preserve some kind of evidence, so that we could prove that this was going on, because it happens a lot.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“But without proof,” the lawyer continued, “what can you do? Nick had that video, and the video showed that these cops were lying, and that’s what carried the case.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Schwaiger said La Motte’s case was unique because it was simply about a wrongful arrest. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The DA rejected this case because there wasn’t enough evidence that he had committed a crime,” Schwaiger said, adding that La Motte wasn’t prosecuted, nor held in jail for a significant time, nor physically beaten by the officers. “None of those things.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It was super important to Nick what happened. It profoundly affected his life, and he did a really good job of explaining that to the jury, such that when it came time to ask the jury for a verdict, we just said, ‘Do what you feel is right,’” Schwaiger said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The jury’s verdict awarded La Motte $3 million in punitive damages — an amount for which Snider and Ray will not likely be personally liable, Schwaiger said — and $2 million in compensatory damages.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"alignleft size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1380\" height=\"2000\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_2-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12097799\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_2-KQED.jpg 1380w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_2-KQED-160x232.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CHPVerdict_2-KQED-1060x1536.jpg 1060w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1380px) 100vw, 1380px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sonoma County resident Nicholas La Motte (right) poses for a photo with his daughter. A jury found LaMotte’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated during a 2023 unlawful arrest by two California Highway Patrol officers. (Courtesy of Nicholas La Motte)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>“The law says California doesn’t have to cover them,” Schwaiger said. “In practice, it’s highly likely that the state will cover them because there will be a lot of pressure from the police unions and whatnot to do that. And the police unions are quite powerful.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>CHP and the California Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://law.stanford.edu/robert-weisberg/\">Robert Weisberg\u003c/a>, a Stanford law professor, said a case like La Motte’s doesn’t usually unfold with a jury award because an unlawful arrest is usually challenged in the middle of criminal proceedings, not in a civil case. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s rare that people have the legal resources or the incentive to challenge an arrest in a civil suit like this, and they are very hard to win,” Weisberg said. “Because the most obvious fact is an arrest isn’t illegal simply because it turns out that, in retrospect, there wasn’t probable cause.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The plaintiff has to prove that, in effect, no reasonable officer in that situation could have surmised that there was probable cause,” Weisberg continued. “And that’s a hard standard to meet.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In defending the officers, the state called Capt. Lorenzo Glenn of the Anaheim Police Department, who testified that he reviewed the case file and found the officer’s actions to be reasonable. But when questioned by Schwaiger, Glenn admitted he wasn’t an expert in DUI or drug recognition.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I find it just bizarre that they put on a so-called expert witness who acknowledged that he wasn’t an expert,” Weisberg said. “It’s not that hard to find experts who will testify for the government in this regard.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The government lawyering in this case was less than impressive, let’s put it that way,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Weisberg said the case was unusual because the government’s evidence supporting the arrest was weak, La Motte recorded his arrest, and the police weren’t afforded qualified immunity. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This is like the perfect case for a plaintiff,” he said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, the California Justice Department, in defense of Ray and Snider, moved to have the case thrown out on the basis of qualified immunity. It lost its appeal of a district judge’s ruling at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which found the state’s petition to be frivolous. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín denied a similar motion last week after La Motte’s attorneys rested their case, saying the DOJ further failed to bring up qualified immunity earlier in the proceedings.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Schwaiger said La Motte called him Tuesday morning and said that he hoped people would hear about the verdict and take similar action, namely by safely filming interactions with police. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This was the result of a yearslong process where a man, against all odds, decided to stand up for himself and refused to say that what happened was OK,” Schwaiger said. “There’s an important lesson there, and I think if more people do stand up for themselves, that’s how we really affect change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "oakland-jury-to-decide-if-california-highway-patrol-officers-committed-unlawful-arrest",
"title": "Oakland Jury to Decide if California Highway Patrol Officers Committed Unlawful Arrest",
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"headTitle": "Oakland Jury to Decide if California Highway Patrol Officers Committed Unlawful Arrest | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>An Oakland jury must decide whether two \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-highway-patrol\">California Highway Patrol\u003c/a> officers will be held civilly liable for the allegedly unlawful arrest of a Black man in Sonoma County. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nicholas La Motte, a Sonoma County resident, is seeking an undisclosed amount of damages from CHP Officer Jayce Ray and Sgt. John Snider, alleging in a lawsuit that three years ago, he was “targeted for mistreatment because of his race” and falsely arrested.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On the witness stand on Friday, La Motte testified that on April 25, 2023, he was returning home from visiting his grandmother in San Francisco, driving northbound on U.S. 101 at around 1:30 a.m. He noticed a car close behind him and followed his navigation’s instructions by taking the Santa Rosa exit. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>When Ray, who was driving the vehicle that allegedly tailed La Motte, flipped on his flashing lights, La Motte secretly began recording on his phone — footage that was played multiple times in court. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1191\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/CHPCruiser.jpg\" alt=\"A California Highway Patrol cruiser.\" class=\"wp-image-11524427\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/CHPCruiser.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/CHPCruiser-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/CHPCruiser-800x496.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/CHPCruiser-1020x633.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/CHPCruiser-1180x732.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/CHPCruiser-960x596.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/CHPCruiser-240x149.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/CHPCruiser-375x233.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/CHPCruiser-520x323.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A California Highway Patrol cruiser. (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ray suspected La Motte was driving under the influence. La Motte said he used cannabis to help him sleep, but hadn’t consumed any in the 24 hours leading up to the incident. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Despite La Motte passing field sobriety tests and negative Breathalyzer results, Ray filed his report that La Motte “had red eyes, that his speech was rapid, his eyes appeared dilated, and that his carotid pulse appeared to be ‘bounding,’” according to the lawsuit. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>La Motte’s attorneys argued that Ray’s notes were “demonstrably false.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ray found La Motte’s cell phone in his pocket and stopped the recording while placing him under arrest for driving under the influence of drugs. CHP officers are not required to wear body cameras.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>La Motte was then transferred to CHP’s Santa Rosa office, and his Mercedes was impounded. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Snider administered a second set of field sobriety tests at the office in an area without audio or video recording, and wrote in his report that La Motte was “under the influence of marijuana and a central nervous system stimulant such as cocaine or methamphetamine,” according to the lawsuit. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The lawsuit alleges that the CHP officers violated La Motte’s Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure, namely the blood sample taken as part of his alleged false arrest. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Asked by California Deputy Attorney General Russell Emmons, who is representing the officers, if cops get away with bad behavior, La Motte replied, “Some do.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>After his arrest, criminal charges against La Motte lingered for another six months before the Sonoma County District Attorney’s office dropped those charges. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín denied a motion to immediately end the trial on the basis of qualified immunity, the legal protection that protects government employees from civil liability unless they violate someone’s constitutional rights.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But by not raising the issue earlier, Martínez-Olguín told Emmons, “you let that go,” regarding the officers’ qualified immunity.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Attorney General’s office called \u003ca href=\"https://pd.anaheim.net/m/directory/employee?eid=34\">Capt. Lorenzo Glenn\u003c/a> of the Anaheim Police Department, who testified that he reviewed the case files and found Ray and Snider’s actions were within accepted police practices. He testified that “they acted properly” in arresting La Motte.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/081926-Highway37-14-MC-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096035\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/081926-Highway37-14-MC-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/081926-Highway37-14-MC-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/081926-Highway37-14-MC-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Cars drive down Highway 37 in Sonoma County on Aug. 19, 2026. (Miles Cull/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During his cross-examination, Glenn said he has never testified as either a DUI or drug recognition expert and doesn’t consider himself one. Jurors watched intently as Izaak Schwaiger, one of La Motte’s attorneys, went through La Motte’s cell phone video, frame by frame, to pinpoint when his eyes appeared red, a sign police use to determine impairment. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Debra Erickson, a former CHP officer and DUI expert, testified on behalf of La Motte on Thursday that he didn’t show signs of intoxication. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Schwaiger asked how Glenn could possibly gauge the work of Ray and Snider without being a subject matter expert on DUI arrests. Glenn responded that he “evaluated their reports” and consulted a manual on recognizing if someone is under the influence of drugs. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I looked at everything that was important,” Glenn said, admitting he didn’t read the whole book or relevant parts about how drugs can impact a person’s eye movements. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Schwaiger asked Glenn how many inconsistencies in reports he needs to find before he deems an officer to not be believable. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I don’t think there’s a number because we’re all human,” Glenn said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Schwaiger said in closing arguments on Friday that the U.S. Constitution states agents of the state “cannot pluck us out of our cars in the middle of the night and put us in chains” without cause.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said Ray and Snider could have come to court and said they got it wrong, “but instead they doubled down” and lied on the witness stand. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“You don’t have to leave all the years of your beautiful life at the door and say, ‘I guess I’ll trust them because they wear a badge,’” Schwaiger said as courtroom TV screens showed a zoomed-in screenshot of La Motte’s eyes on the night of his arrest. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During closing remarks, Emmons said the CHP officers weren’t trying to frame La Motte, and the case wasn’t about whether Ray and Snider were perfect, but that they were “not wicked and vicious.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Emmons asked jurors to “take them at their word: they saw what they saw, and they did their job.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We need them,” Emmons said. “We need them to do their jobs.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Yes, we need them to do their jobs,” Schwaiger said in response. “Do their jobs in accordance with the law.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The jury has elected to resume deliberations on Monday morning.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Ray suspected La Motte was driving under the influence. La Motte said he used cannabis to help him sleep, but hadn’t consumed any in the 24 hours leading up to the incident. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Ray found La Motte’s cell phone in his pocket and stopped the recording while placing him under arrest for driving under the influence of drugs. CHP officers are not required to wear body cameras.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>La Motte was then transferred to CHP’s Santa Rosa office, and his Mercedes was impounded. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Snider administered a second set of field sobriety tests at the office in an area without audio or video recording, and wrote in his report that La Motte was “under the influence of marijuana and a central nervous system stimulant such as cocaine or methamphetamine,” according to the lawsuit. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The lawsuit alleges that the CHP officers violated La Motte’s Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure, namely the blood sample taken as part of his alleged false arrest. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Asked by California Deputy Attorney General Russell Emmons, who is representing the officers, if cops get away with bad behavior, La Motte replied, “Some do.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín denied a motion to immediately end the trial on the basis of qualified immunity, the legal protection that protects government employees from civil liability unless they violate someone’s constitutional rights.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Attorney General’s office called \u003ca href=\"https://pd.anaheim.net/m/directory/employee?eid=34\">Capt. Lorenzo Glenn\u003c/a> of the Anaheim Police Department, who testified that he reviewed the case files and found Ray and Snider’s actions were within accepted police practices. He testified that “they acted properly” in arresting La Motte.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>During his cross-examination, Glenn said he has never testified as either a DUI or drug recognition expert and doesn’t consider himself one. Jurors watched intently as Izaak Schwaiger, one of La Motte’s attorneys, went through La Motte’s cell phone video, frame by frame, to pinpoint when his eyes appeared red, a sign police use to determine impairment. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>During his cross-examination, Glenn said he has never testified as either a DUI or drug recognition expert and doesn’t consider himself one. Jurors watched intently as Izaak Schwaiger, one of La Motte’s attorneys, went through La Motte’s cell phone video, frame by frame, to pinpoint when his eyes appeared red, a sign police use to determine impairment. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Debra Erickson, a former CHP officer and DUI expert, testified on behalf of La Motte on Thursday that he didn’t show signs of intoxication. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Debra Erickson, a former CHP officer and DUI expert, testified on behalf of La Motte on Thursday that he didn’t show signs of intoxication. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Schwaiger asked how Glenn could possibly gauge the work of Ray and Snider without being a subject matter expert on DUI arrests. Glenn responded that he “evaluated their reports” and consulted a manual on recognizing if someone is under the influence of drugs. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Schwaiger asked how Glenn could possibly gauge the work of Ray and Snider without being a subject matter expert on DUI arrests. Glenn responded that he “evaluated their reports” and consulted a manual on recognizing if someone is under the influence of drugs. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I looked at everything that was important,” Glenn said, admitting he didn’t read the whole book or relevant parts about how drugs can impact a person’s eye movements. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Schwaiger asked Glenn how many inconsistencies in reports he needs to find before he deems an officer to not be believable. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I don’t think there’s a number because we’re all human,” Glenn said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Schwaiger said in closing arguments on Friday that the U.S. Constitution states agents of the state “cannot pluck us out of our cars in the middle of the night and put us in chains” without cause.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Schwaiger said in closing arguments on Friday that the U.S. Constitution states agents of the state “cannot pluck us out of our cars in the middle of the night and put us in chains” without cause.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He said Ray and Snider could have come to court and said they got it wrong, “but instead they doubled down” and lied on the witness stand. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“You don’t have to leave all the years of your beautiful life at the door and say, ‘I guess I’ll trust them because they wear a badge,’” Schwaiger said as courtroom TV screens showed a zoomed-in screenshot of La Motte’s eyes on the night of his arrest. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“You don’t have to leave all the years of your beautiful life at the door and say, ‘I guess I’ll trust them because they wear a badge,’” Schwaiger said as courtroom TV screens showed a zoomed-in screenshot of La Motte’s eyes on the night of his arrest. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>During closing remarks, Emmons said the CHP officers weren’t trying to frame La Motte, and the case wasn’t about whether Ray and Snider were perfect, but that they were “not wicked and vicious.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>During closing remarks, Emmons said the CHP officers weren’t trying to frame La Motte, and the case wasn’t about whether Ray and Snider were perfect, but that they were “not wicked and vicious.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Emmons asked jurors to “take them at their word: they saw what they saw, and they did their job.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We need them,” Emmons said. “We need them to do their jobs.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Yes, we need them to do their jobs,” Schwaiger said in response. “Do their jobs in accordance with the law.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Yes, we need them to do their jobs,” Schwaiger said in response. “Do their jobs in accordance with the law.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The jury has elected to resume deliberations on Monday morning.\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Nicholas La Motte is seeking an undisclosed amount of damages from CHP Officer Jayce Ray and Sgt. John Snider.\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>An Oakland jury must decide whether two \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-highway-patrol\">California Highway Patrol\u003c/a> officers will be held civilly liable for the allegedly unlawful arrest of a Black man in Sonoma County. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nicholas La Motte, a Sonoma County resident, is seeking an undisclosed amount of damages from CHP Officer Jayce Ray and Sgt. John Snider, alleging in a lawsuit that three years ago, he was “targeted for mistreatment because of his race” and falsely arrested.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On the witness stand on Friday, La Motte testified that on April 25, 2023, he was returning home from visiting his grandmother in San Francisco, driving northbound on U.S. 101 at around 1:30 a.m. He noticed a car close behind him and followed his navigation’s instructions by taking the Santa Rosa exit. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>When Ray, who was driving the vehicle that allegedly tailed La Motte, flipped on his flashing lights, La Motte secretly began recording on his phone — footage that was played multiple times in court. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1191\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/CHPCruiser.jpg\" alt=\"A California Highway Patrol cruiser.\" class=\"wp-image-11524427\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/CHPCruiser.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/CHPCruiser-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/CHPCruiser-800x496.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/CHPCruiser-1020x633.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/CHPCruiser-1180x732.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/CHPCruiser-960x596.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/CHPCruiser-240x149.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/CHPCruiser-375x233.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/06/CHPCruiser-520x323.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A California Highway Patrol cruiser. (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ray suspected La Motte was driving under the influence. La Motte said he used cannabis to help him sleep, but hadn’t consumed any in the 24 hours leading up to the incident. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Despite La Motte passing field sobriety tests and negative Breathalyzer results, Ray filed his report that La Motte “had red eyes, that his speech was rapid, his eyes appeared dilated, and that his carotid pulse appeared to be ‘bounding,’” according to the lawsuit. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>La Motte’s attorneys argued that Ray’s notes were “demonstrably false.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ray found La Motte’s cell phone in his pocket and stopped the recording while placing him under arrest for driving under the influence of drugs. CHP officers are not required to wear body cameras.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>La Motte was then transferred to CHP’s Santa Rosa office, and his Mercedes was impounded. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Snider administered a second set of field sobriety tests at the office in an area without audio or video recording, and wrote in his report that La Motte was “under the influence of marijuana and a central nervous system stimulant such as cocaine or methamphetamine,” according to the lawsuit. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The lawsuit alleges that the CHP officers violated La Motte’s Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure, namely the blood sample taken as part of his alleged false arrest. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Asked by California Deputy Attorney General Russell Emmons, who is representing the officers, if cops get away with bad behavior, La Motte replied, “Some do.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>After his arrest, criminal charges against La Motte lingered for another six months before the Sonoma County District Attorney’s office dropped those charges. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín denied a motion to immediately end the trial on the basis of qualified immunity, the legal protection that protects government employees from civil liability unless they violate someone’s constitutional rights.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But by not raising the issue earlier, Martínez-Olguín told Emmons, “you let that go,” regarding the officers’ qualified immunity.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Attorney General’s office called \u003ca href=\"https://pd.anaheim.net/m/directory/employee?eid=34\">Capt. Lorenzo Glenn\u003c/a> of the Anaheim Police Department, who testified that he reviewed the case files and found Ray and Snider’s actions were within accepted police practices. He testified that “they acted properly” in arresting La Motte.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/081926-Highway37-14-MC-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096035\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/081926-Highway37-14-MC-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/081926-Highway37-14-MC-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/081926-Highway37-14-MC-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Cars drive down Highway 37 in Sonoma County on Aug. 19, 2026. (Miles Cull/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During his cross-examination, Glenn said he has never testified as either a DUI or drug recognition expert and doesn’t consider himself one. Jurors watched intently as Izaak Schwaiger, one of La Motte’s attorneys, went through La Motte’s cell phone video, frame by frame, to pinpoint when his eyes appeared red, a sign police use to determine impairment. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Debra Erickson, a former CHP officer and DUI expert, testified on behalf of La Motte on Thursday that he didn’t show signs of intoxication. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Schwaiger asked how Glenn could possibly gauge the work of Ray and Snider without being a subject matter expert on DUI arrests. Glenn responded that he “evaluated their reports” and consulted a manual on recognizing if someone is under the influence of drugs. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I looked at everything that was important,” Glenn said, admitting he didn’t read the whole book or relevant parts about how drugs can impact a person’s eye movements. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Schwaiger asked Glenn how many inconsistencies in reports he needs to find before he deems an officer to not be believable. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I don’t think there’s a number because we’re all human,” Glenn said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Schwaiger said in closing arguments on Friday that the U.S. Constitution states agents of the state “cannot pluck us out of our cars in the middle of the night and put us in chains” without cause.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said Ray and Snider could have come to court and said they got it wrong, “but instead they doubled down” and lied on the witness stand. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“You don’t have to leave all the years of your beautiful life at the door and say, ‘I guess I’ll trust them because they wear a badge,’” Schwaiger said as courtroom TV screens showed a zoomed-in screenshot of La Motte’s eyes on the night of his arrest. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During closing remarks, Emmons said the CHP officers weren’t trying to frame La Motte, and the case wasn’t about whether Ray and Snider were perfect, but that they were “not wicked and vicious.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Emmons asked jurors to “take them at their word: they saw what they saw, and they did their job.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We need them,” Emmons said. “We need them to do their jobs.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Yes, we need them to do their jobs,” Schwaiger said in response. “Do their jobs in accordance with the law.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The jury has elected to resume deliberations on Monday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Napa Crash Driver Had 3 Previous DUIs, District Attorney Says; 6 Victims Identified",
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"content": "\u003cp>A Stockton man suspected of drunk driving and charged with murder after a deadly crash in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/napa-county\">Napa County\u003c/a> on Sunday had three previous DUIs, according to the county’s district attorney’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Norberto Celerino, 53, was convicted of multiple DUIs in San Joaquin County in August 2020 and as recently as Sept. 20, 2024. He has a third prior DUI conviction that was recorded more than 10 years ago, according to the district attorney’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Celerino — who has also gone by other various names — faces six counts of murder, six counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and a felony DUI charge causing injury with two or more prior DUI convictions in connection with the crash that killed six people over the weekend, District Attorney Allison Haley announced Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Celerino was allegedly driving a Toyota Sienna minivan under the influence of alcohol while carrying seven passengers when the car veered off the road and crashed into a tree around 5:50 p.m. Sunday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The van was traveling southbound on Pope Valley Road in an unincorporated area west of Calistoga, about a mile south of Pope Valley Winery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Highway Patrol responded to the single-vehicle crash and pronounced six of the eight victims dead at the scene. The van’s two other occupants, including Celerino, were airlifted to nearby hospitals with major injuries, CHP spokesperson Andrew Barclay said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All six of the men who died in the crash are believed to be farmworkers based in Stockton, according to the Napa County coroner’s office. According to Jasmin Ricardo — a daughter of one of the men killed, Loreto Ricardo Hernandez, 42 — her father and the rest of the victims were on their way to an overnight shift in the fields at the time.[aside postID=news_12054881 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/GettyImages-2230575340-2000x1262.jpg']“What hurts more is that this could’ve been avoided,” she wrote on \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/loreto-ricardo-hernandez-funeral-donations\">an online fundraising page\u003c/a> set up to raise money for Hernandez’s funeral.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Jasmin, he was a father of four, including a young son with a developmental disability. Both he and his wife are farmworkers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hernandez and Fernando Silverio, 34, were identified by the coroner’s office on Tuesday. The four remaining victims, Aaron Ruiz Ruiz, 39, Beymer Reynosa Rodriguez, 32, Demetrio Celerino Francisco, 39, and Pedro Lopez Gomez, 57, were identified on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Public information officer Henry Wofford said the Mexican Consulate of San Francisco assisted with the identification.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Celerino was initially arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, causing injury and death after he arrived at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa on Sunday, according to Barclay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Celerino was on probation during the time of the incident, which could extend a possible sentence, the district attorney’s office said. He also faces special allegations for inflicting great bodily injury with a deadly weapon; great bodily injury; crimes involving “violence, cruelty, viciousness or callousness;” and crimes showing an “increasing level of seriousness” compared to previous offenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the district attorney’s office spokesperson, Carlos Villatoro, if convicted, Celerino faces 90 years to life in prison on the murder charges alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His arraignment was delayed while he remains at the hospital, being treated for his injuries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A Stockton man suspected of drunk driving and charged with murder after a deadly crash in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/napa-county\">Napa County\u003c/a> on Sunday had three previous DUIs, according to the county’s district attorney’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Norberto Celerino, 53, was convicted of multiple DUIs in San Joaquin County in August 2020 and as recently as Sept. 20, 2024. He has a third prior DUI conviction that was recorded more than 10 years ago, according to the district attorney’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Celerino — who has also gone by other various names — faces six counts of murder, six counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and a felony DUI charge causing injury with two or more prior DUI convictions in connection with the crash that killed six people over the weekend, District Attorney Allison Haley announced Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Celerino was allegedly driving a Toyota Sienna minivan under the influence of alcohol while carrying seven passengers when the car veered off the road and crashed into a tree around 5:50 p.m. Sunday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The van was traveling southbound on Pope Valley Road in an unincorporated area west of Calistoga, about a mile south of Pope Valley Winery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Highway Patrol responded to the single-vehicle crash and pronounced six of the eight victims dead at the scene. The van’s two other occupants, including Celerino, were airlifted to nearby hospitals with major injuries, CHP spokesperson Andrew Barclay said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All six of the men who died in the crash are believed to be farmworkers based in Stockton, according to the Napa County coroner’s office. According to Jasmin Ricardo — a daughter of one of the men killed, Loreto Ricardo Hernandez, 42 — her father and the rest of the victims were on their way to an overnight shift in the fields at the time.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“What hurts more is that this could’ve been avoided,” she wrote on \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/loreto-ricardo-hernandez-funeral-donations\">an online fundraising page\u003c/a> set up to raise money for Hernandez’s funeral.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Jasmin, he was a father of four, including a young son with a developmental disability. Both he and his wife are farmworkers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hernandez and Fernando Silverio, 34, were identified by the coroner’s office on Tuesday. The four remaining victims, Aaron Ruiz Ruiz, 39, Beymer Reynosa Rodriguez, 32, Demetrio Celerino Francisco, 39, and Pedro Lopez Gomez, 57, were identified on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Public information officer Henry Wofford said the Mexican Consulate of San Francisco assisted with the identification.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Celerino was initially arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, causing injury and death after he arrived at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa on Sunday, according to Barclay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Celerino was on probation during the time of the incident, which could extend a possible sentence, the district attorney’s office said. He also faces special allegations for inflicting great bodily injury with a deadly weapon; great bodily injury; crimes involving “violence, cruelty, viciousness or callousness;” and crimes showing an “increasing level of seriousness” compared to previous offenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the district attorney’s office spokesperson, Carlos Villatoro, if convicted, Celerino faces 90 years to life in prison on the murder charges alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His arraignment was delayed while he remains at the hospital, being treated for his injuries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "oakland-watchdogs-say-chp-should-follow-opd-pursuit-policy-following-deadly-crash",
"title": "Oakland Watchdogs Say CHP Should Follow OPD Pursuit Policy After Deadly Crash",
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"content": "\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-highway-patrol\">California Highway Patrol\u003c/a> has released video footage showing the high-speed police chase that caused the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042539/after-fatal-chp-pursuit-crash-oakland-police-watchdog-says-systemic-changes-are-needed\">death of an Oakland teacher \u003c/a>and reinvigorated debates surrounding pursuits and the state agency’s presence in the city last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The newly-released aerial footage shows suspect Eric Scott Hernandez-Garcia, 18, driving at dangerous speeds while fleeing CHP through the city’s streets during a chase that activists from the Anti Police Terror Project called “reckless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The organization, which said it works to eradicate police fear in communities of color, will rally Thursday to demand that highway patrol follow Oakland’s police pursuit policy, and that the city’s police commission reject a recent proposal by the city’s police chief to repeal it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every year, police high-speed chases kill more people than hurricanes, tornadoes and floods combined. They don’t solve crime and they don’t prevent crime,” said Cat Brooks, the executive director of APTP. “It’s exhausting, we keep doing the same thing over and over, and now we have a police chief … that wants to roll back the very loose regulations that we have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the pursuit, Hernandez-Garcia crashed twice, first ramming into the front of a minivan and, seconds later, skidding onto an East Oakland sidewalk, hitting a fire hydrant, a parked car and two pedestrians, including Castlemont High School teacher Marvin Boomer, who died on the scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The footage showed his car travelling about 80 miles per hour when he crashed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12043976\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12043976\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/A79A6150-KQED_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/A79A6150-KQED_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/A79A6150-KQED_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/A79A6150-KQED_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A memorial for Marvin Boomer in Oakland on June 3, 2025. Boomer was killed when a suspect fleeing from the California Highway Patrol struck a fire hydrant, which struck the Castlemont High School teacher, who was out walking with his partner. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The four-minute video compilation showed CHP officers first attempting to pull over Hernandez-Garcia, whose vehicle was wanted in association with a felony evading incident by the Alameda County Sheriff’s office, in a parking lot near 102nd Avenue and International Avenue around 7:30 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He fled, and the two-man police team pursued him. After about 30 seconds, they halted their chase after losing sight of Hernandez-Garcia due to the “reckless manner” of his driving, according to Shawna Pacheco, an assistant chief with CHP’s Golden Gate division.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An aerial team continued to follow Hernandez-Garcia as he weaved through residential streets and on and off Highway 880 at speeds topping 90 miles per hour for the next 13 minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, the video showed him parking on the 1800 block of Fifth Street. Officers once again tried to apprehend him, but Hernandez-Garcia drove away in the vehicle.[aside postID=news_12042539 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250603-OAKLAND-PURSUIT-POLICY-MD-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg']The two CHP officers resumed their vehicle pursuit, following him through more residential roads in East Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 22 seconds later, the video showed Hernandez-Garcia crashing into a minivan while turning onto 21st Street, which caused minor injuries to its passengers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CHP vehicle stopped its pursuit at the site of that incident, the video shows, while Hernandez-Garcia continued, picking up speed for another 20 seconds before he appeared to lose control of the car while barrelling between two parked vehicles just before the intersection of 12th and 21st streets. The car skidded onto the sidewalk and hit Boomer and his partner, Oakland resident Nina Woodruff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boomer was pronounced dead at the scene, and Woodruff was transported to a local hospital with multiple injuries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The incident came just as Oakland’s police commission has been tasked with reviewing the city’s pursuit policy, which restricts chases when a suspect is not putting themselves or others in imminent danger and limits police vehicles in pursuits on residential streets to traveling under 50 miles per hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May, OPD Chief Floyd Mitchell requested that the commission further relax the policy, which he said “deviates from national best practice,” by eliminating the requirement that chasing officers gain approval to travel above 50 miles per hour. Brooks said the policy, even as it stands, is “loose,” and still allows officers to engage in chases, including at high speeds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She believes restrictions should be placed on the risky missions, which some policing experts have said do little to lower crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12042562\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12042562\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250603-OAKLAND-PURSUIT-POLICY-MD-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250603-OAKLAND-PURSUIT-POLICY-MD-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250603-OAKLAND-PURSUIT-POLICY-MD-03-KQED-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250603-OAKLAND-PURSUIT-POLICY-MD-03-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250603-OAKLAND-PURSUIT-POLICY-MD-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250603-OAKLAND-PURSUIT-POLICY-MD-03-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250603-OAKLAND-PURSUIT-POLICY-MD-03-KQED-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A memorial for Marvin Boomer in Oakland on June 3, 2025. Boomer was killed when a suspect fleeing from the California Highway Patrol struck a fire hydrant, which struck the Castlemont High School teacher, who was out walking with his partner. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If a chase on residential streets is going above 50 miles an hour, the logical thing to do is stop,” Brooks said. “You have the driver’s license plate, right? … Stop. Unless somebody has seriously hurt themselves or somebody else, [the car is] a piece of property,” she said, referring to the allegedly stolen car driven by Hernandez-Garcia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s an inanimate object and your pursuit of that inanimate objective is costing people their lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>APTP and other advocacy groups, including Communities United for Restoring Justice, Urban Peace Movement and the Ella Baker Center, are also calling for the removal of the 120 CHP officers Gov. Gavin Newsom dispatched to Oakland last February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As long as the officers — who were sent to assist with traffic enforcement, sideshows prevention and recovering stolen cars — remain, the groups are requesting that they follow the city’s pursuit policy, which does not apply to their agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want Gavin Newsom to immediately withdraw the 120 CHP officers that he flooded the city of Oakland with that have done nothing to lessen violent crime or carjackings but have done much harm to the community, including racial profiling,” Brooks said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Oakland Watchdogs Say CHP Should Follow OPD Pursuit Policy After Deadly Crash | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-highway-patrol\">California Highway Patrol\u003c/a> has released video footage showing the high-speed police chase that caused the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042539/after-fatal-chp-pursuit-crash-oakland-police-watchdog-says-systemic-changes-are-needed\">death of an Oakland teacher \u003c/a>and reinvigorated debates surrounding pursuits and the state agency’s presence in the city last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The newly-released aerial footage shows suspect Eric Scott Hernandez-Garcia, 18, driving at dangerous speeds while fleeing CHP through the city’s streets during a chase that activists from the Anti Police Terror Project called “reckless.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The organization, which said it works to eradicate police fear in communities of color, will rally Thursday to demand that highway patrol follow Oakland’s police pursuit policy, and that the city’s police commission reject a recent proposal by the city’s police chief to repeal it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every year, police high-speed chases kill more people than hurricanes, tornadoes and floods combined. They don’t solve crime and they don’t prevent crime,” said Cat Brooks, the executive director of APTP. “It’s exhausting, we keep doing the same thing over and over, and now we have a police chief … that wants to roll back the very loose regulations that we have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the pursuit, Hernandez-Garcia crashed twice, first ramming into the front of a minivan and, seconds later, skidding onto an East Oakland sidewalk, hitting a fire hydrant, a parked car and two pedestrians, including Castlemont High School teacher Marvin Boomer, who died on the scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The footage showed his car travelling about 80 miles per hour when he crashed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12043976\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12043976\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/A79A6150-KQED_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/A79A6150-KQED_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/A79A6150-KQED_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/A79A6150-KQED_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A memorial for Marvin Boomer in Oakland on June 3, 2025. Boomer was killed when a suspect fleeing from the California Highway Patrol struck a fire hydrant, which struck the Castlemont High School teacher, who was out walking with his partner. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The four-minute video compilation showed CHP officers first attempting to pull over Hernandez-Garcia, whose vehicle was wanted in association with a felony evading incident by the Alameda County Sheriff’s office, in a parking lot near 102nd Avenue and International Avenue around 7:30 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He fled, and the two-man police team pursued him. After about 30 seconds, they halted their chase after losing sight of Hernandez-Garcia due to the “reckless manner” of his driving, according to Shawna Pacheco, an assistant chief with CHP’s Golden Gate division.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An aerial team continued to follow Hernandez-Garcia as he weaved through residential streets and on and off Highway 880 at speeds topping 90 miles per hour for the next 13 minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, the video showed him parking on the 1800 block of Fifth Street. Officers once again tried to apprehend him, but Hernandez-Garcia drove away in the vehicle.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The two CHP officers resumed their vehicle pursuit, following him through more residential roads in East Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 22 seconds later, the video showed Hernandez-Garcia crashing into a minivan while turning onto 21st Street, which caused minor injuries to its passengers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CHP vehicle stopped its pursuit at the site of that incident, the video shows, while Hernandez-Garcia continued, picking up speed for another 20 seconds before he appeared to lose control of the car while barrelling between two parked vehicles just before the intersection of 12th and 21st streets. The car skidded onto the sidewalk and hit Boomer and his partner, Oakland resident Nina Woodruff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boomer was pronounced dead at the scene, and Woodruff was transported to a local hospital with multiple injuries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The incident came just as Oakland’s police commission has been tasked with reviewing the city’s pursuit policy, which restricts chases when a suspect is not putting themselves or others in imminent danger and limits police vehicles in pursuits on residential streets to traveling under 50 miles per hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May, OPD Chief Floyd Mitchell requested that the commission further relax the policy, which he said “deviates from national best practice,” by eliminating the requirement that chasing officers gain approval to travel above 50 miles per hour. Brooks said the policy, even as it stands, is “loose,” and still allows officers to engage in chases, including at high speeds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She believes restrictions should be placed on the risky missions, which some policing experts have said do little to lower crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12042562\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12042562\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250603-OAKLAND-PURSUIT-POLICY-MD-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250603-OAKLAND-PURSUIT-POLICY-MD-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250603-OAKLAND-PURSUIT-POLICY-MD-03-KQED-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250603-OAKLAND-PURSUIT-POLICY-MD-03-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250603-OAKLAND-PURSUIT-POLICY-MD-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250603-OAKLAND-PURSUIT-POLICY-MD-03-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250603-OAKLAND-PURSUIT-POLICY-MD-03-KQED-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A memorial for Marvin Boomer in Oakland on June 3, 2025. Boomer was killed when a suspect fleeing from the California Highway Patrol struck a fire hydrant, which struck the Castlemont High School teacher, who was out walking with his partner. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If a chase on residential streets is going above 50 miles an hour, the logical thing to do is stop,” Brooks said. “You have the driver’s license plate, right? … Stop. Unless somebody has seriously hurt themselves or somebody else, [the car is] a piece of property,” she said, referring to the allegedly stolen car driven by Hernandez-Garcia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s an inanimate object and your pursuit of that inanimate objective is costing people their lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>APTP and other advocacy groups, including Communities United for Restoring Justice, Urban Peace Movement and the Ella Baker Center, are also calling for the removal of the 120 CHP officers Gov. Gavin Newsom dispatched to Oakland last February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As long as the officers — who were sent to assist with traffic enforcement, sideshows prevention and recovering stolen cars — remain, the groups are requesting that they follow the city’s pursuit policy, which does not apply to their agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want Gavin Newsom to immediately withdraw the 120 CHP officers that he flooded the city of Oakland with that have done nothing to lessen violent crime or carjackings but have done much harm to the community, including racial profiling,” Brooks said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "after-fatal-chp-pursuit-crash-oakland-police-watchdog-says-systemic-changes-are-needed",
"title": "After Fatal CHP Pursuit Crash, Oakland Police Watchdog Says Systemic Changes Are Needed",
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"content": "\u003cp>One week after a high-speed California Highway Patrol chase led to a crash that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042178/oakland-chp-pursuit-crash-kills-a-beloved-teacher-renewing-debate-over-police-chases\">killed a high school teacher\u003c/a> in Oakland, the city’s Police Commission said systemic changes are needed to address how local police apprehend suspects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Revisions to the pursuit policy alone will not resolve the underlying issues that led to this heartbreaking loss,” the commission said in a statement on Monday afternoon signed by Chair Ricardo Garcia-Acosta. “Police pursuits are a complex, multifaceted problem requiring urgent, coordinated action across city leadership, public safety agencies, and community partners.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pursuit policy revisions proposed by Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell last month, a week before the fatal May 28 crash, would \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p1PM8a3qLj2zhKqO2y02wRQ3Wbpm4WPr/view\">rescind a restriction on pursuits\u003c/a> established under former Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong in 2022. Under that restriction, officers who do not have a commander’s approval must end a police chase if the vehicles involved exceed 50 mph on city streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CHP, however, is not required to follow OPD’s pursuit policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Mitchell, the policy is too restrictive, adding that it has resulted in fewer pursuits in cases where an officer has reason to believe a crime has been committed — a 47.7% decline from 2022 to 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Police Commission said in a statement that while it is still in the process of reviewing Mitchell’s proposal, it urges other city agencies, including OPD, the City Council’s Public Safety Committee and the Department of Violence Prevention, to also consider other public safety initiatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12038002\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12038002\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OPD-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OPD-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OPD-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OPD-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OPD-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OPD-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OPD-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An Oakland Police Department squad car in downtown Oakland on April 28, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This collaboration must include a thorough review of the pursuit policy’s alignment with broader public safety strategies, development of an enhanced community provider system of care, investments in technology and resources for safer apprehension methods, and clear public messaging that communicates a significant shift in our city’s approach,” the commission said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week’s chase began after CHP officers saw Eric Scott Hernandez-Garcia, 18, driving a vehicle that was wanted in association with a felony evading incident, according to the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When officers attempted to stop the car in a parking lot near the intersection of 102nd Avenue and International Boulevard, they said, Hernandez-Garcia fled the scene. Officers pursued him for around 30 seconds before discontinuing their ground chase while CHP aircraft continued to monitor Hernandez-Garcia from above, CHP said.[aside postID=news_12042178 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/240408-FCIDublin-026-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg']At one point, Hernandez-Garcia pulled over and began to exit the vehicle. When law enforcement approached him, however, he re-entered the car and a second ground pursuit ensued, CHP said, adding that the driver crashed into a minivan near Park Boulevard a few seconds later. The people in the minivan suffered minor injuries, and the pursuit was called off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few seconds later, around 7:45 p.m., the driver crashed into a fire hydrant and two pedestrians at the intersection of East 21st Street and 12th Avenue, killing one of the people and injuring the other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marvin Boomer, a beloved math teacher and academic coach at Castlemont High School in Oakland, was pronounced dead at the scene while his girlfriend, who was walking with him, was taken to the hospital for her injuries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boomer, 40, “was a source of light, always stepping up to help others, lead with kindness, and bring people together,” a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/honoring-dr-boomers-legacy?attribution_id=sl:9e2cda4b-3908-43f0-beeb-3b3d8e4a3d9e&lang=en_US&ts=1748728311&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_content=amp13_t1-amp14_c-amp15_t3&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link&v=amp14_c\">GoFundMe\u003c/a> dedicated to Boomer said. “His warmth, wisdom, and joyful spirit left a lasting impact on his family and friends as well as the countless students, colleagues, and community members in his orbit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hernandez-Garcia was arrested and booked into Santa Rita Jail on multiple felony charges, and CHP and the Oakland Police Department are investigating the incident. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said June 20 is his scheduled plea hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The Oakland Police Commission said revisions to the local police pursuit policy alone won’t be enough to fix the underlying issues that led to last week’s deadly crash.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>One week after a high-speed California Highway Patrol chase led to a crash that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042178/oakland-chp-pursuit-crash-kills-a-beloved-teacher-renewing-debate-over-police-chases\">killed a high school teacher\u003c/a> in Oakland, the city’s Police Commission said systemic changes are needed to address how local police apprehend suspects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Revisions to the pursuit policy alone will not resolve the underlying issues that led to this heartbreaking loss,” the commission said in a statement on Monday afternoon signed by Chair Ricardo Garcia-Acosta. “Police pursuits are a complex, multifaceted problem requiring urgent, coordinated action across city leadership, public safety agencies, and community partners.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pursuit policy revisions proposed by Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell last month, a week before the fatal May 28 crash, would \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p1PM8a3qLj2zhKqO2y02wRQ3Wbpm4WPr/view\">rescind a restriction on pursuits\u003c/a> established under former Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong in 2022. Under that restriction, officers who do not have a commander’s approval must end a police chase if the vehicles involved exceed 50 mph on city streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CHP, however, is not required to follow OPD’s pursuit policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Mitchell, the policy is too restrictive, adding that it has resulted in fewer pursuits in cases where an officer has reason to believe a crime has been committed — a 47.7% decline from 2022 to 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Police Commission said in a statement that while it is still in the process of reviewing Mitchell’s proposal, it urges other city agencies, including OPD, the City Council’s Public Safety Committee and the Department of Violence Prevention, to also consider other public safety initiatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12038002\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12038002\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OPD-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OPD-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OPD-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OPD-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OPD-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OPD-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OPD-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An Oakland Police Department squad car in downtown Oakland on April 28, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This collaboration must include a thorough review of the pursuit policy’s alignment with broader public safety strategies, development of an enhanced community provider system of care, investments in technology and resources for safer apprehension methods, and clear public messaging that communicates a significant shift in our city’s approach,” the commission said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week’s chase began after CHP officers saw Eric Scott Hernandez-Garcia, 18, driving a vehicle that was wanted in association with a felony evading incident, according to the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When officers attempted to stop the car in a parking lot near the intersection of 102nd Avenue and International Boulevard, they said, Hernandez-Garcia fled the scene. Officers pursued him for around 30 seconds before discontinuing their ground chase while CHP aircraft continued to monitor Hernandez-Garcia from above, CHP said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>At one point, Hernandez-Garcia pulled over and began to exit the vehicle. When law enforcement approached him, however, he re-entered the car and a second ground pursuit ensued, CHP said, adding that the driver crashed into a minivan near Park Boulevard a few seconds later. The people in the minivan suffered minor injuries, and the pursuit was called off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few seconds later, around 7:45 p.m., the driver crashed into a fire hydrant and two pedestrians at the intersection of East 21st Street and 12th Avenue, killing one of the people and injuring the other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marvin Boomer, a beloved math teacher and academic coach at Castlemont High School in Oakland, was pronounced dead at the scene while his girlfriend, who was walking with him, was taken to the hospital for her injuries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boomer, 40, “was a source of light, always stepping up to help others, lead with kindness, and bring people together,” a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/honoring-dr-boomers-legacy?attribution_id=sl:9e2cda4b-3908-43f0-beeb-3b3d8e4a3d9e&lang=en_US&ts=1748728311&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_content=amp13_t1-amp14_c-amp15_t3&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link&v=amp14_c\">GoFundMe\u003c/a> dedicated to Boomer said. “His warmth, wisdom, and joyful spirit left a lasting impact on his family and friends as well as the countless students, colleagues, and community members in his orbit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hernandez-Garcia was arrested and booked into Santa Rita Jail on multiple felony charges, and CHP and the Oakland Police Department are investigating the incident. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said June 20 is his scheduled plea hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Oakland CHP Pursuit Crash Kills a Beloved Teacher, Renewing Debate Over Police Chases",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The death of a high school teacher who was struck in Oakland this week by the driver of a vehicle fleeing California Highway Patrol officers has intensified an already heated \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12001829/oakland-residents-divided-over-gov-newsoms-involvement-in-local-crime-solutions\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">debate over police pursuit policies\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the city.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2025/05/29/oakland-chp-chase-beloved-castlemont-teacher-marvin-boomer/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Marvin Boomer\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a veteran Castlemont High School math teacher who also worked as an academic coach, was pronounced dead at the scene on Wednesday after the vehicle slammed into him and another pedestrian around 7:45 p.m. at the intersection of East 21st Street and 12th Avenue. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The second victim, a woman in her 40s who has not been identified, was rushed to the hospital and is stable, according to Oakland police, who were not involved in the pursuit.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">CHP and the Oakland Police Department said they have each launched separate investigations. The driver, 18-year-old Eric Scott Hernandez-Garcia of Oakland, was arrested and booked into Santa Rita Jail on multiple felony charges, CHP said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The pursuit started when CHP officers tried to stop Hernandez-Garcia as he drove a vehicle that was “wanted in association with a felony evading incident,” the agency said. CHP officers pursued Hernandez-Garcia on the ground for just over 30 seconds before pulling back as he drove west from 102nd Avenue, with aircraft monitoring him overhead. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Seconds after CHP reinitiated its ground pursuit at a second location, the driver hit a minivan near Park Boulevard, causing minor injuries to its passengers, before continuing east to where the fatal crash occurred, CHP said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“While CHP terminated pursuit within mere seconds and CHP fixed-wing aircraft continued to monitor overhead, Hernandez-Garcia’s reckless and dangerous driving caused him to crash twice, within seconds of each other,” the agency said in a statement. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12040592 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/20250105_OakFireClose_DMB_00044-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But Cat Brooks, the co-founder and executive director of the Anti-Police Terror Project, directed much of the blame toward the officers who started the chase.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“No one was in danger until CHP decided to engage in a high-speed chase over a vehicle. What a waste of life,” said Brooks, whose group is holding a vigil on Friday evening at the site of the crash and demanding that CHP end what it called “reckless” chases. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Police high-speed chases kill more people every year than tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and lightning combined,” she said. “They do not prevent crime. They do not solve crime.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The crash happened just hours before the final day of the school year, leaving the Castlemont community in a state of shock and mourning as it prepared for Friday’s graduation ceremonies. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Everyone was devastated, not just because someone had died, but because it was Boomer,” said George Arterberry, a fellow Castlemont teacher who started working at the school the same year as Boomer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Arterberry said he and Boomer both graduated from historically Black universities in the South and came to Oakland with a deep sense of mission and purpose around empowering the next generation of Black and brown students. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“He was the genuine article. Authentic, likable, charismatic, relatable,” Arterberry said. “And so instantly, when you would meet him — whether you were one of the kids, teachers, adults — you liked him. You couldn’t help it. There just didn’t seem to be an agenda with him. He wasn’t trying to prove something.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After teaching math for four years at Castlemont, Boomer headed its career education department. While working at the school, he also completed a doctorate in philosophy from North Carolina State University, with a focus on educational research and policy analysis.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a statement, the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> said Boomer was a “beloved and vital member of the Castlemont family,” where he served for eight years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“His warmth, wisdom, and joyful spirit left a lasting impact on students and fellow educators,” the district said. “We extend our deepest condolences to everyone impacted by this loss. Dr. Boomer was more than a teacher — he was a mentor, a friend, and a source of strength and inspiration in the halls of Castlemont.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The deadly crash comes a week after the Oakland Police Commission suggested it was leaning toward \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2025/05/23/oakland-police-pursuit-policy-proposed-revisions/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">revising OPD’s pursuit policy\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which many residents argue is too restrictive and allows suspects to easily escape authorities. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Those rules, issued under former Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong in late 2022, following a spike in police pursuits and deadly crashes, require officers who don’t have additional command approval to end a chase if any vehicles involved exceed 50 mph on city streets.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p1PM8a3qLj2zhKqO2y02wRQ3Wbpm4WPr/view\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A new proposal\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, submitted to the commission last week by current Chief Floyd Mitchell, would rescind the pre-authorization requirement, a rule that he argued “deviates from national best practice.” Mitchell noted that police pursuits in Oakland have plummeted since the 2022 rule was put in place — from 130 that year to 68 in 2024 — even as \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://cityofoakland2.app.box.com/s/sjiq7usfy27gy9dfe51hp8arz5l1ixad/file/1743494392012\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">violent crime in the city increased\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">However, CHP officers are not bound by the city’s pursuit rules. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11993611/newsom-to-quadruple-chp-deployment-in-oakland-ramping-up-states-policing-role\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">deployed the CHP\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to Oakland last year to patrol high-crime areas and target vehicle theft, sideshows and organized retail crime, has been openly critical of Oakland’s chase rules. Last year, he even threatened to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2024/07/26/governor-newsom-oakland-police-chase-policy/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">withdraw CHP support\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> unless the restrictions were loosened.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The governor’s office declined to comment on this week’s pursuit crash, instead referring KQED to CHP. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Brooks, of APTP, criticized the Oakland police chief for seeking to loosen restrictions on chases in the city, suggesting he was bowing to outside pressure. Even with the existing restrictions, she argued, the department has repeatedly violated its own policies. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“This is another knee-jerk policy reaction. It’s not going to do anything to make us safe, but it’s going to actually make us much less safe,” she said. “We have the tangible data that shows what happens when OPD gets to go fast and play cops and robbers in our neighborhoods: People die.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED’s \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/emanoukian\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Elize Manoukian\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> contributed to this report.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The death of a high school teacher who was struck in Oakland this week by the driver of a vehicle fleeing California Highway Patrol officers has intensified an already heated \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12001829/oakland-residents-divided-over-gov-newsoms-involvement-in-local-crime-solutions\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">debate over police pursuit policies\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the city.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2025/05/29/oakland-chp-chase-beloved-castlemont-teacher-marvin-boomer/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Marvin Boomer\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a veteran Castlemont High School math teacher who also worked as an academic coach, was pronounced dead at the scene on Wednesday after the vehicle slammed into him and another pedestrian around 7:45 p.m. at the intersection of East 21st Street and 12th Avenue. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The second victim, a woman in her 40s who has not been identified, was rushed to the hospital and is stable, according to Oakland police, who were not involved in the pursuit.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">CHP and the Oakland Police Department said they have each launched separate investigations. The driver, 18-year-old Eric Scott Hernandez-Garcia of Oakland, was arrested and booked into Santa Rita Jail on multiple felony charges, CHP said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The pursuit started when CHP officers tried to stop Hernandez-Garcia as he drove a vehicle that was “wanted in association with a felony evading incident,” the agency said. CHP officers pursued Hernandez-Garcia on the ground for just over 30 seconds before pulling back as he drove west from 102nd Avenue, with aircraft monitoring him overhead. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Seconds after CHP reinitiated its ground pursuit at a second location, the driver hit a minivan near Park Boulevard, causing minor injuries to its passengers, before continuing east to where the fatal crash occurred, CHP said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“While CHP terminated pursuit within mere seconds and CHP fixed-wing aircraft continued to monitor overhead, Hernandez-Garcia’s reckless and dangerous driving caused him to crash twice, within seconds of each other,” the agency said in a statement. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But Cat Brooks, the co-founder and executive director of the Anti-Police Terror Project, directed much of the blame toward the officers who started the chase.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“No one was in danger until CHP decided to engage in a high-speed chase over a vehicle. What a waste of life,” said Brooks, whose group is holding a vigil on Friday evening at the site of the crash and demanding that CHP end what it called “reckless” chases. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Police high-speed chases kill more people every year than tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and lightning combined,” she said. “They do not prevent crime. They do not solve crime.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The crash happened just hours before the final day of the school year, leaving the Castlemont community in a state of shock and mourning as it prepared for Friday’s graduation ceremonies. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Everyone was devastated, not just because someone had died, but because it was Boomer,” said George Arterberry, a fellow Castlemont teacher who started working at the school the same year as Boomer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Arterberry said he and Boomer both graduated from historically Black universities in the South and came to Oakland with a deep sense of mission and purpose around empowering the next generation of Black and brown students. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“He was the genuine article. Authentic, likable, charismatic, relatable,” Arterberry said. “And so instantly, when you would meet him — whether you were one of the kids, teachers, adults — you liked him. You couldn’t help it. There just didn’t seem to be an agenda with him. He wasn’t trying to prove something.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After teaching math for four years at Castlemont, Boomer headed its career education department. While working at the school, he also completed a doctorate in philosophy from North Carolina State University, with a focus on educational research and policy analysis.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a statement, the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> said Boomer was a “beloved and vital member of the Castlemont family,” where he served for eight years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“His warmth, wisdom, and joyful spirit left a lasting impact on students and fellow educators,” the district said. “We extend our deepest condolences to everyone impacted by this loss. Dr. Boomer was more than a teacher — he was a mentor, a friend, and a source of strength and inspiration in the halls of Castlemont.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The deadly crash comes a week after the Oakland Police Commission suggested it was leaning toward \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2025/05/23/oakland-police-pursuit-policy-proposed-revisions/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">revising OPD’s pursuit policy\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which many residents argue is too restrictive and allows suspects to easily escape authorities. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Those rules, issued under former Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong in late 2022, following a spike in police pursuits and deadly crashes, require officers who don’t have additional command approval to end a chase if any vehicles involved exceed 50 mph on city streets.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p1PM8a3qLj2zhKqO2y02wRQ3Wbpm4WPr/view\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A new proposal\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, submitted to the commission last week by current Chief Floyd Mitchell, would rescind the pre-authorization requirement, a rule that he argued “deviates from national best practice.” Mitchell noted that police pursuits in Oakland have plummeted since the 2022 rule was put in place — from 130 that year to 68 in 2024 — even as \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://cityofoakland2.app.box.com/s/sjiq7usfy27gy9dfe51hp8arz5l1ixad/file/1743494392012\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">violent crime in the city increased\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">However, CHP officers are not bound by the city’s pursuit rules. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11993611/newsom-to-quadruple-chp-deployment-in-oakland-ramping-up-states-policing-role\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">deployed the CHP\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to Oakland last year to patrol high-crime areas and target vehicle theft, sideshows and organized retail crime, has been openly critical of Oakland’s chase rules. Last year, he even threatened to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2024/07/26/governor-newsom-oakland-police-chase-policy/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">withdraw CHP support\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> unless the restrictions were loosened.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The governor’s office declined to comment on this week’s pursuit crash, instead referring KQED to CHP. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Brooks, of APTP, criticized the Oakland police chief for seeking to loosen restrictions on chases in the city, suggesting he was bowing to outside pressure. Even with the existing restrictions, she argued, the department has repeatedly violated its own policies. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“This is another knee-jerk policy reaction. It’s not going to do anything to make us safe, but it’s going to actually make us much less safe,” she said. “We have the tangible data that shows what happens when OPD gets to go fast and play cops and robbers in our neighborhoods: People die.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED’s \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/emanoukian\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Elize Manoukian\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> contributed to this report.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Oakland Residents Divided Over Gov. Newsom's Involvement in Local Crime Solutions",
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"headTitle": "Oakland Residents Divided Over Gov. Newsom’s Involvement in Local Crime Solutions | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom’s letter to Oakland city leaders last month urging them to change the city’s policy on police vehicle chases seemed out of the ordinary: a governor weighing in forcefully on a somewhat-obscure element of local policing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s part of a larger, slowly unfolding effort to exert state influence on law enforcement in Oakland and other California cities as crime concerns rise during an election year. In the past six months, Newsom has deployed California Highway Patrol officers to Oakland, then quadrupled their shifts, sent National Guard prosecutors to help the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office with drug cases, then chastised DA Pamela Price for not accepting the assistance quickly enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state intervention — which includes extra deployments of CHP officers, \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/District-Attorney-Pamela-J.-Price.7-10-2024.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">National Guard lawyers\u003c/a> or both in Oakland, San Francisco, Bakersfield and Riverside — plays well with some worried residents and business owners. And it may help fend off right-wing critiques of California as a liberal dystopia. But it has drawn criticism from police accountability groups and privacy experts concerned about the effect on residents, especially communities of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re a charter city. We have self rule,” said Brian Hofer, who chairs Oakland’s Privacy Advisory Commission, which recommends policy to the city on technology and privacy rights, including police surveillance. “We certainly need financial help, but we do not need this hostile takeover from Sacramento.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As California’s political pendulum \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-08-16/poll-california-ballot-measures-prop-32-prop-33-prop-36\">swings back toward tough-on-crime policies\u003c/a>, the governor has tasked CHP officers with cracking down on auto, retail and cargo theft in Bakersfield and fentanyl dealing in San Francisco. Oakland, however, has drawn the bulk of the state’s attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The Highway Patrol in Oakland\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The city’s scandal-plagued police department has already operated under the oversight of a federal monitor for the past two decades. Violent crime \u003ca href=\"https://cityofoakland2.app.box.com/s/sjiq7usfy27gy9dfe51hp8arz5l1ixad/file/1404598604813\">rose by more than 20% in 2023\u003c/a> before \u003ca href=\"https://cityofoakland2.app.box.com/s/sjiq7usfy27gy9dfe51hp8arz5l1ixad/file/1576921650750\">dropping again in the first half of 2024\u003c/a>, according to data from the police department and the \u003ca href=\"https://majorcitieschiefs.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/MCCA-Violent-Crime-Report-2024-and-2023-Midyear.pdf\">Major Cities Chiefs Association\u003c/a>. Gentrification has brought new waves of residents with different expectations about safety and policing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oakland is so fractured right now,” Hofer said. “Fifty percent (of residents) think the CHP should be here and running the show because Oakland City Hall can’t manage itself. The other 50% totally resent this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom has called the CHP “the Swiss Army knife of law enforcement in the state” and said the agency’s job in Oakland is “not to substitute, but to support” the work of city officials. He’s said the surge is temporary and will last into November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re encouraged by local reporting that crime is going down,” Newsom spokesperson Tara Gallegos said Friday. “It’s a step in the right direction for the Oakland community, but there is more work to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since CHP began surge operations in Oakland in February, the agency — tasked with helping patrol the city’s crime and traffic accident hotspots — said it has made 747 arrests, recovered more than 1,500 stolen vehicles and seized 74 guns as of Friday. Some police watchdogs expressed skepticism about those numbers; CalMatters requested documentation of the arrests and seizures but did not receive it by press time. A spokesperson for Alameda County District Attorney Price said her office has received 11 cases connected to the CHP surge for prosecution. “Their numbers obviously don’t match our numbers,” Price told reporters earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The inability to agree even on basic data comes at a politically fraught and contradictory moment for criminal justice policy in Oakland and California. Price and Oakland mayor Sheng Thao both face recall campaigns backed by coalitions of residents, business owners and \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2024/08/01/oakland-philip-dreyfuss-sheng-thao-mayor-recall/\">a deep-pocketed Piedmont hedge fund manager\u003c/a>, who say they’ve failed to keep residents safe. Californians will vote in November on a ballot measure that would toughen sentences for property and drug crimes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the latest crime statistics from both \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/oakland-crime-rate-down-19429327.php\">Oakland\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://data-openjustice.doj.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2024-07/Crime%20In%20CA%202023f.pdf\">California\u003c/a> show property crime trending downward and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/crime-trends-in-california/\">well below historic highs\u003c/a>, mirroring a nationwide pattern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>James Burch, a spokesperson for the Anti Police-Terror Project, said community activists see a mismatch between the specific problems plaguing Oakland and CHP’s historic emphasis on traffic stops and recovering stolen vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to figure out how to support small businesses, especially those getting broken into, and we need to stop the flow of gun violence on our streets,” he said. “We don’t see CHP having the skills, the experience, the technical know-how to address these issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, Burch argued, the city should invest more heavily in community violence-prevention programs that support those most likely to be involved in gun crimes to choose a different path.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12001842\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/081324_CHP_FM_CM_04.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12001842\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/081324_CHP_FM_CM_04.jpg\" alt=\"Four police cars and a man dressed in a police uniform are seen through bars.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/081324_CHP_FM_CM_04.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/081324_CHP_FM_CM_04-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/081324_CHP_FM_CM_04-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/081324_CHP_FM_CM_04-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/081324_CHP_FM_CM_04-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/081324_CHP_FM_CM_04-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Patrol vehicles at the California Highway Patrol office in Oakland on Aug. 13, 2024. \u003ccite>(Florence Middleton / CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One such program in Oakland, Operation Ceasefire, was scaled back during the pandemic, but city officials say they have revived it this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a July press conference, Newsom said a CHP crackdown on things like sideshows and DUIs could help free up local law enforcement to focus on other crimes. And Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell said research shows that traffic stops can depress crime in an area for hours after the stop occurs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Part of what they’re doing in these traffic stops is to create a high visibility presence within our community to address that perception of crime and crime itself,” Mitchell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked whether business owners she talks to have seen results from the CHP surge, Oakland African-American Chamber of Commerce president Cathy Adams said no.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every call I get is they’ve been broken into, and it’s taking too long for people to show up,” she said. Still, Adams said that while she’s “not in favor of mass incarceration,” she supports the additional police resources CHP is providing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oakland was starting to get a reputation like, ‘Hey, come on over, it’s a grocery store. You can get anything you want and walk right out,’ ” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Demario Daniels said he was happy to have support from a CHP officer after another car hit his Mustang near Fruitvale Avenue, then took off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was awesome. He helped calm me down,” said Daniels, who said he needed his car to look for work after a recent layoff. He said he appreciated that the officer reassured him but was honest about the fact that if he filed a report, it likely wouldn’t go anywhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>When state and local policing policies don’t mix\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The state intervention in Oakland policing has created the most waves when it comes into conflict with local policies that were crafted with community input.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Newsom said this spring that the state would pay for and install in and around Oakland, nearly 500 automated license plate readers — surveillance cameras that law enforcement can use to track vehicles they suspect of being involved in crimes — police accountability groups raised concern that the devices wouldn’t be subject to the city’s surveillance policy. The policy requires annual reporting on the impact of any surveillance technology and bars data from being retained for longer than 30 days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CHP and the Oakland Police Department have since signed an agreement to each take custody of some of the cameras and share the data between agencies. The company providing them, Flock Safety, will delete the videos after 30 days. CHP will front the money for the cameras, with Oakland to pay the state back within a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On vehicle chases, too, CHP’s policy differs from Oakland’s: Oakland officers are \u003ca href=\"https://data.oaklandca.gov/stories/s/Oakland-Police-Pursuits/j6sd-cq8q/\">only allowed to initiate pursuit\u003c/a> when they have a reasonable suspicion that the person they’re chasing has committed a violent crime or has a gun. CHP officers have wider discretion to chase “in order to apprehend a violator of the law who refuses to yield to the officer’s lawful direction.” Officers should not chase if they can identify the suspects well enough to track them down later, CHP policy also says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/newsom-oakland-police-chase-19597534.php\">told the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>\u003c/a> that his officers recently chased people at high speeds in Oakland after seeing them commit minor traffic violations, such as passing unsafely and driving without headlights. A CHP spokesperson said those chases led to the recovery of two stolen cars and an illegal gun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his letter to Oakland officials, Newsom touted a recent CHP blitz in which officers used police cars and a helicopter to chase people suspected of participating in sideshows, making five felony arrests. He acknowledged that such pursuits “can be dangerous to police, suspects and innocent bystanders.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But there is also extreme danger to the public in allowing criminals to act with impunity,” the governor wrote, calling Oakland’s chase policy “an outlier” and asking the city council to reconsider it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://portal.cops.usdoj.gov/resourcecenter/content.ashx/cops-r1134-pub.pdf\">2023 report\u003c/a> by the Police Executive Research Forum, a think tank, recommended police departments only allow vehicle chases when the person fleeing has committed a violent crime and poses an imminent threat to commit another violent crime. Funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the U.S. Justice Department, the study found that more than 90% of police chases happen because of traffic violations, that chases rarely lead to arrests for serious crimes and that about a fifth of serious injuries during chases are to innocent bystanders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The danger is so great, and the potential for innocent people getting killed or severely injured is very high,” said John Burris, the attorney who represented plaintiffs in a landmark 2003 settlement that led to two decades of federal monitoring of Oakland police’s performance on reducing civil rights violations. He said changing the city’s chase policy would likely require a signoff from the federal monitor assigned to that case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burris also represented the family of Erik Salgado, who CHP officers shot to death after Salgado fled a traffic stop in Oakland in 2020. The CHP settled that case for $7 million last year, and some police accountability activists cite the agency’s chase policy as a factor in the killing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Any CHP officers investigating crimes in Oakland should receive additional training in implicit bias, the city’s communities and aspects of the settlement agreement governing use of force and police misconduct, Burris said. “We don’t want to have cops coming in and just thinking they can stop a car because there are Black and Hispanic kids in the car or demanding to search their cars just because you stopped them,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he was unaware of any complaints to his office about CHP stopping Oaklanders without probable cause during the surge but that his staff was monitoring the situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CHP officers are more likely to be white and male than both Oakland police officers and those in California law enforcement overall, \u003ca href=\"https://post.ca.gov/Law-Enforcement-Demographics\">according to the state’s Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training\u003c/a>. Helped by the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/justice/2023/11/chp-2023-salary-increase/\">automatic pay increases\u003c/a> officers receive under California law, CHP recently embarked on a recruiting campaign that \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/02/26/chp-recruitment/\">boosted applications\u003c/a> to join the agency at a time when many police departments are struggling to attract candidates.[aside postID=\"news_11993611,news_11974920,news_11999063\" label=\"Related Stories\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency also differs from Oakland police in some measures of transparency. Oakland’s vehicle chase policy, for example, is listed on the police department’s website; CHP asked CalMatters to file a formal public records before providing its policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neither agency made any officials available for an interview for this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>More lawyers for prosecution, but not defense\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Differences in law enforcement policy can lead to jurisdictional battles. Oakland’s police pulled out of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in 2020, and San Francisco’s did in 2017 after participating for at least a decade after civil liberties advocates raised concerns about FBI surveillance and profiling of ethnic and religious groups, immigrants and political protesters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have more restrictive policies in the Bay Area because that’s what our community is comfortable with,” Hofer said. “Bring in the state or feds and that all goes out the window.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Police departments’ efforts to build trust with local communities can suffer when another law enforcement agency parachutes in for a brief period, said Jorja Leap, a professor at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs who studies gang violence and community policing. She called the state’s deployment “a temporary fix for a deeply rooted problem” and a shift away from the efforts by cities, including Oakland, over the past two decades to engage with the root causes of crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a bunch of police chiefs who all stood up and said, ‘We can’t arrest our way out of the problem,’ ” she said. “And now we’ve got a governor going, ‘Yes, we can.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom has pointed out that the state has also spent millions of dollars on community violence prevention programs, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.bscc.ca.gov/s_cpgpcalvipgrant/\">$6 million over three years for Oakland’s Operation Ceasefire\u003c/a>. However, his announcements of state public safety support to cities over the past year have focused largely on sending cops and prosecutors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the governor’s request, California National Guard lawyers and case analysts have been working fentanyl cases in San Francisco over the past year. Crime is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11996211/san-francisco-crime-is-down-significantly-but-its-not-clear-trend-will-last\">down in the city\u003c/a>, while accidental drug overdose deaths in the first six months of this year ticked down just slightly compared with the same period last year, from 405 to 373. The state help has gotten a warm reception from Mayor London Breed and a chilly one from the San Francisco Public Defender’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The increased arrests for suspected drug-related crimes have filled our jails, clogged our courts, and harmed a lot of people who actually need help,” the public defender’s office said in a statement to CalMatters. “As predicted, arresting people for drug use has largely failed to get people into recovery programs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Newsom said in February that he would also send California National Guard lawyers to help prosecute Alameda County drug cases, the county’s chief public defender, Brendon Woods, noted that his office was not receiving any additional state resources. “This is only going to lead to more caging of Black and Brown people,” Woods posted on X at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom assigned the lawyers anyway, and when he deemed that District Attorney Price was not taking advantage of the support quickly enough, he inked an agreement earlier this month to have the prosecutors work out of the California Department of Justice instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just don’t have time,” he told reporters in July. “People don’t want to wait another day. They don’t want to wait another weekend.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken to using state resources to fight crime on a local level. Not everyone in the cities he’s taken an interest in is thrilled with the results.",
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"nprByline": "\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/author/feliciacalmatters-org\">Felicia Mello,\u003c/a> CalMatters",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom’s letter to Oakland city leaders last month urging them to change the city’s policy on police vehicle chases seemed out of the ordinary: a governor weighing in forcefully on a somewhat-obscure element of local policing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s part of a larger, slowly unfolding effort to exert state influence on law enforcement in Oakland and other California cities as crime concerns rise during an election year. In the past six months, Newsom has deployed California Highway Patrol officers to Oakland, then quadrupled their shifts, sent National Guard prosecutors to help the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office with drug cases, then chastised DA Pamela Price for not accepting the assistance quickly enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state intervention — which includes extra deployments of CHP officers, \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/District-Attorney-Pamela-J.-Price.7-10-2024.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">National Guard lawyers\u003c/a> or both in Oakland, San Francisco, Bakersfield and Riverside — plays well with some worried residents and business owners. And it may help fend off right-wing critiques of California as a liberal dystopia. But it has drawn criticism from police accountability groups and privacy experts concerned about the effect on residents, especially communities of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re a charter city. We have self rule,” said Brian Hofer, who chairs Oakland’s Privacy Advisory Commission, which recommends policy to the city on technology and privacy rights, including police surveillance. “We certainly need financial help, but we do not need this hostile takeover from Sacramento.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As California’s political pendulum \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-08-16/poll-california-ballot-measures-prop-32-prop-33-prop-36\">swings back toward tough-on-crime policies\u003c/a>, the governor has tasked CHP officers with cracking down on auto, retail and cargo theft in Bakersfield and fentanyl dealing in San Francisco. Oakland, however, has drawn the bulk of the state’s attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The Highway Patrol in Oakland\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The city’s scandal-plagued police department has already operated under the oversight of a federal monitor for the past two decades. Violent crime \u003ca href=\"https://cityofoakland2.app.box.com/s/sjiq7usfy27gy9dfe51hp8arz5l1ixad/file/1404598604813\">rose by more than 20% in 2023\u003c/a> before \u003ca href=\"https://cityofoakland2.app.box.com/s/sjiq7usfy27gy9dfe51hp8arz5l1ixad/file/1576921650750\">dropping again in the first half of 2024\u003c/a>, according to data from the police department and the \u003ca href=\"https://majorcitieschiefs.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/MCCA-Violent-Crime-Report-2024-and-2023-Midyear.pdf\">Major Cities Chiefs Association\u003c/a>. Gentrification has brought new waves of residents with different expectations about safety and policing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oakland is so fractured right now,” Hofer said. “Fifty percent (of residents) think the CHP should be here and running the show because Oakland City Hall can’t manage itself. The other 50% totally resent this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom has called the CHP “the Swiss Army knife of law enforcement in the state” and said the agency’s job in Oakland is “not to substitute, but to support” the work of city officials. He’s said the surge is temporary and will last into November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re encouraged by local reporting that crime is going down,” Newsom spokesperson Tara Gallegos said Friday. “It’s a step in the right direction for the Oakland community, but there is more work to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since CHP began surge operations in Oakland in February, the agency — tasked with helping patrol the city’s crime and traffic accident hotspots — said it has made 747 arrests, recovered more than 1,500 stolen vehicles and seized 74 guns as of Friday. Some police watchdogs expressed skepticism about those numbers; CalMatters requested documentation of the arrests and seizures but did not receive it by press time. A spokesperson for Alameda County District Attorney Price said her office has received 11 cases connected to the CHP surge for prosecution. “Their numbers obviously don’t match our numbers,” Price told reporters earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The inability to agree even on basic data comes at a politically fraught and contradictory moment for criminal justice policy in Oakland and California. Price and Oakland mayor Sheng Thao both face recall campaigns backed by coalitions of residents, business owners and \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2024/08/01/oakland-philip-dreyfuss-sheng-thao-mayor-recall/\">a deep-pocketed Piedmont hedge fund manager\u003c/a>, who say they’ve failed to keep residents safe. Californians will vote in November on a ballot measure that would toughen sentences for property and drug crimes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the latest crime statistics from both \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/oakland-crime-rate-down-19429327.php\">Oakland\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://data-openjustice.doj.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2024-07/Crime%20In%20CA%202023f.pdf\">California\u003c/a> show property crime trending downward and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/crime-trends-in-california/\">well below historic highs\u003c/a>, mirroring a nationwide pattern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>James Burch, a spokesperson for the Anti Police-Terror Project, said community activists see a mismatch between the specific problems plaguing Oakland and CHP’s historic emphasis on traffic stops and recovering stolen vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to figure out how to support small businesses, especially those getting broken into, and we need to stop the flow of gun violence on our streets,” he said. “We don’t see CHP having the skills, the experience, the technical know-how to address these issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, Burch argued, the city should invest more heavily in community violence-prevention programs that support those most likely to be involved in gun crimes to choose a different path.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12001842\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/081324_CHP_FM_CM_04.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12001842\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/081324_CHP_FM_CM_04.jpg\" alt=\"Four police cars and a man dressed in a police uniform are seen through bars.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/081324_CHP_FM_CM_04.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/081324_CHP_FM_CM_04-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/081324_CHP_FM_CM_04-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/081324_CHP_FM_CM_04-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/081324_CHP_FM_CM_04-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/081324_CHP_FM_CM_04-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Patrol vehicles at the California Highway Patrol office in Oakland on Aug. 13, 2024. \u003ccite>(Florence Middleton / CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One such program in Oakland, Operation Ceasefire, was scaled back during the pandemic, but city officials say they have revived it this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a July press conference, Newsom said a CHP crackdown on things like sideshows and DUIs could help free up local law enforcement to focus on other crimes. And Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell said research shows that traffic stops can depress crime in an area for hours after the stop occurs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Part of what they’re doing in these traffic stops is to create a high visibility presence within our community to address that perception of crime and crime itself,” Mitchell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked whether business owners she talks to have seen results from the CHP surge, Oakland African-American Chamber of Commerce president Cathy Adams said no.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every call I get is they’ve been broken into, and it’s taking too long for people to show up,” she said. Still, Adams said that while she’s “not in favor of mass incarceration,” she supports the additional police resources CHP is providing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oakland was starting to get a reputation like, ‘Hey, come on over, it’s a grocery store. You can get anything you want and walk right out,’ ” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Demario Daniels said he was happy to have support from a CHP officer after another car hit his Mustang near Fruitvale Avenue, then took off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was awesome. He helped calm me down,” said Daniels, who said he needed his car to look for work after a recent layoff. He said he appreciated that the officer reassured him but was honest about the fact that if he filed a report, it likely wouldn’t go anywhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>When state and local policing policies don’t mix\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The state intervention in Oakland policing has created the most waves when it comes into conflict with local policies that were crafted with community input.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Newsom said this spring that the state would pay for and install in and around Oakland, nearly 500 automated license plate readers — surveillance cameras that law enforcement can use to track vehicles they suspect of being involved in crimes — police accountability groups raised concern that the devices wouldn’t be subject to the city’s surveillance policy. The policy requires annual reporting on the impact of any surveillance technology and bars data from being retained for longer than 30 days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CHP and the Oakland Police Department have since signed an agreement to each take custody of some of the cameras and share the data between agencies. The company providing them, Flock Safety, will delete the videos after 30 days. CHP will front the money for the cameras, with Oakland to pay the state back within a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On vehicle chases, too, CHP’s policy differs from Oakland’s: Oakland officers are \u003ca href=\"https://data.oaklandca.gov/stories/s/Oakland-Police-Pursuits/j6sd-cq8q/\">only allowed to initiate pursuit\u003c/a> when they have a reasonable suspicion that the person they’re chasing has committed a violent crime or has a gun. CHP officers have wider discretion to chase “in order to apprehend a violator of the law who refuses to yield to the officer’s lawful direction.” Officers should not chase if they can identify the suspects well enough to track them down later, CHP policy also says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/newsom-oakland-police-chase-19597534.php\">told the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>\u003c/a> that his officers recently chased people at high speeds in Oakland after seeing them commit minor traffic violations, such as passing unsafely and driving without headlights. A CHP spokesperson said those chases led to the recovery of two stolen cars and an illegal gun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his letter to Oakland officials, Newsom touted a recent CHP blitz in which officers used police cars and a helicopter to chase people suspected of participating in sideshows, making five felony arrests. He acknowledged that such pursuits “can be dangerous to police, suspects and innocent bystanders.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But there is also extreme danger to the public in allowing criminals to act with impunity,” the governor wrote, calling Oakland’s chase policy “an outlier” and asking the city council to reconsider it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://portal.cops.usdoj.gov/resourcecenter/content.ashx/cops-r1134-pub.pdf\">2023 report\u003c/a> by the Police Executive Research Forum, a think tank, recommended police departments only allow vehicle chases when the person fleeing has committed a violent crime and poses an imminent threat to commit another violent crime. Funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the U.S. Justice Department, the study found that more than 90% of police chases happen because of traffic violations, that chases rarely lead to arrests for serious crimes and that about a fifth of serious injuries during chases are to innocent bystanders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The danger is so great, and the potential for innocent people getting killed or severely injured is very high,” said John Burris, the attorney who represented plaintiffs in a landmark 2003 settlement that led to two decades of federal monitoring of Oakland police’s performance on reducing civil rights violations. He said changing the city’s chase policy would likely require a signoff from the federal monitor assigned to that case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burris also represented the family of Erik Salgado, who CHP officers shot to death after Salgado fled a traffic stop in Oakland in 2020. The CHP settled that case for $7 million last year, and some police accountability activists cite the agency’s chase policy as a factor in the killing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Any CHP officers investigating crimes in Oakland should receive additional training in implicit bias, the city’s communities and aspects of the settlement agreement governing use of force and police misconduct, Burris said. “We don’t want to have cops coming in and just thinking they can stop a car because there are Black and Hispanic kids in the car or demanding to search their cars just because you stopped them,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he was unaware of any complaints to his office about CHP stopping Oaklanders without probable cause during the surge but that his staff was monitoring the situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CHP officers are more likely to be white and male than both Oakland police officers and those in California law enforcement overall, \u003ca href=\"https://post.ca.gov/Law-Enforcement-Demographics\">according to the state’s Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training\u003c/a>. Helped by the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/justice/2023/11/chp-2023-salary-increase/\">automatic pay increases\u003c/a> officers receive under California law, CHP recently embarked on a recruiting campaign that \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/02/26/chp-recruitment/\">boosted applications\u003c/a> to join the agency at a time when many police departments are struggling to attract candidates.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency also differs from Oakland police in some measures of transparency. Oakland’s vehicle chase policy, for example, is listed on the police department’s website; CHP asked CalMatters to file a formal public records before providing its policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neither agency made any officials available for an interview for this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>More lawyers for prosecution, but not defense\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Differences in law enforcement policy can lead to jurisdictional battles. Oakland’s police pulled out of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in 2020, and San Francisco’s did in 2017 after participating for at least a decade after civil liberties advocates raised concerns about FBI surveillance and profiling of ethnic and religious groups, immigrants and political protesters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have more restrictive policies in the Bay Area because that’s what our community is comfortable with,” Hofer said. “Bring in the state or feds and that all goes out the window.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Police departments’ efforts to build trust with local communities can suffer when another law enforcement agency parachutes in for a brief period, said Jorja Leap, a professor at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs who studies gang violence and community policing. She called the state’s deployment “a temporary fix for a deeply rooted problem” and a shift away from the efforts by cities, including Oakland, over the past two decades to engage with the root causes of crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a bunch of police chiefs who all stood up and said, ‘We can’t arrest our way out of the problem,’ ” she said. “And now we’ve got a governor going, ‘Yes, we can.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom has pointed out that the state has also spent millions of dollars on community violence prevention programs, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.bscc.ca.gov/s_cpgpcalvipgrant/\">$6 million over three years for Oakland’s Operation Ceasefire\u003c/a>. However, his announcements of state public safety support to cities over the past year have focused largely on sending cops and prosecutors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the governor’s request, California National Guard lawyers and case analysts have been working fentanyl cases in San Francisco over the past year. Crime is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11996211/san-francisco-crime-is-down-significantly-but-its-not-clear-trend-will-last\">down in the city\u003c/a>, while accidental drug overdose deaths in the first six months of this year ticked down just slightly compared with the same period last year, from 405 to 373. The state help has gotten a warm reception from Mayor London Breed and a chilly one from the San Francisco Public Defender’s office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The increased arrests for suspected drug-related crimes have filled our jails, clogged our courts, and harmed a lot of people who actually need help,” the public defender’s office said in a statement to CalMatters. “As predicted, arresting people for drug use has largely failed to get people into recovery programs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Newsom said in February that he would also send California National Guard lawyers to help prosecute Alameda County drug cases, the county’s chief public defender, Brendon Woods, noted that his office was not receiving any additional state resources. “This is only going to lead to more caging of Black and Brown people,” Woods posted on X at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom assigned the lawyers anyway, and when he deemed that District Attorney Price was not taking advantage of the support quickly enough, he inked an agreement earlier this month to have the prosecutors work out of the California Department of Justice instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just don’t have time,” he told reporters in July. “People don’t want to wait another day. They don’t want to wait another weekend.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "newsom-to-quadruple-chp-deployment-in-oakland-ramping-up-states-policing-role",
"title": "Newsom to Quadruple CHP Deployment in Oakland, Ramping Up State's Policing Role",
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"headTitle": "Newsom to Quadruple CHP Deployment in Oakland, Ramping Up State’s Policing Role | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced a four-fold expansion of California Highway Patrol operations in the East Bay, stepping up the state’s law enforcement role as local authorities face criticism over crime and public safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Starting next week and continuing through the next four months, CHP officers will be on Oakland streets seven days a week assisting with traffic enforcement, efforts to curtail sideshows and recovering stolen cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deployment builds on CHP operations that started late last year and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11974920/newsom-to-deploy-120-chp-officers-to-fight-crime-surge-in-oakland\">expanded in February\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are back in Oakland mindful that there is still more work to be done, mindful that we need to step up our resources,” Newsom said at a news conference at Berry Bros. Towing in West Oakland, backed by rows of cars recovered by CHP. He was joined by Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell and CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, CHP operations in the East Bay have resulted in 562 arrests, the recovery of 1,162 stolen cars and the seizure of 55 firearms linked to crimes, according to the governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The February deployment led to the creation of a CHP crime suppression team that patrols hotspots such as Hegenberger Road in East Oakland. The CHP team also collaborates with other agencies on sideshow operations, combating vehicle theft, recovering cargo containers stolen from the Port of Oakland and tackling fencing operations at Oakland flea markets, among other things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The number of CHP officers on assignment in Oakland each week will rise from seven to 20.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am deeply grateful to Governor Newsom for providing these critical resources to support Oakland’s public safety strategy,” Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao said in a statement. “After years of rising crime rates, we are seeing a steady decrease — and we know this is in part because of the strong partnership between the Oakland Police Department and the California Highway Patrol.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement of the increased CHP presence comes amid reports that Newsom is rescinding an offer to send state attorneys to Oakland to help prosecute serious and complex crimes. The state provided similar assistance to San Francisco’s district attorney for fentanyl trafficking prosecutions last year. In \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/10yZPFwURVv0Qx4seEL4KnhQT6557Wmnu/view?usp=sharing\">a letter sent to Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price\u003c/a> Wednesday, Newsom’s administration accused Price’s office of failing to make use of the state’s resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our hope was that these resources could be used to support efforts to prosecute violent and drug-related crimes and meaningfully improve public safety in Alameda County,” Ann Patterson, Newsom’s cabinet secretary, wrote. “Despite our outreach, your office has yet to make use of these resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are mindful that we need to be more aggressive as it relates to the investigations and accountability, the prosecution of some of these cases.” Newsom said at the press conference. “So we’re moving forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added that the California National Guard attorney intended for the Alameda County DA’s office is being sent to the state Attorney General’s office, where they will prosecute state led cases involving crimes committed in Alameda County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a separate press conference Thursday afternoon, Price said Newsom’s characterization of her interest in the assistance was incorrect and misleading.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said her office was offered one attorney to work on drug cases for 60 days with the possibility of extending to 90 days. She said her deputies were provided a written agreement to bring on that attorney in April and were working to finalize it. She said miscommunication, summer vacations and other bureaucratic hurdles had led to delays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My primary concern was the amount of time that, if we’re going to bring someone on and train them and embed them in the office, I would want them to be here longer,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The devil is in the details,” Price continued. “And those details were in the process of being worked out. I hope that the governor will get the facts and call us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan to send state prosecutors to Oakland, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11975161/newsom-to-send-state-prosecutors-to-oakland-to-help-crack-down-on-rising-crime\">announced in February,\u003c/a> came on the heels of the governor’s decision to send 120 CHP officers to Oakland, where violent crimes — homicide, aggravated assault, robbery and rape — rose 21% from 2022 to 2023, according to \u003ca href=\"https://cityofoakland2.app.box.com/s/sjiq7usfy27gy9dfe51hp8arz5l1ixad/file/1404598604813\">Oakland Police Department data\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Citywide Weekly Crime Report posted earlier this week by OPD shows that violent crime is \u003ca href=\"https://cityofoakland2.app.box.com/s/sjiq7usfy27gy9dfe51hp8arz5l1ixad/file/1583885461436\">down 13%\u003c/a> from this point in 2023. But on Wednesday, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/oakland-police-data-reports-19545681.php\">the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em> reported\u003c/a> that Oakland has been publishing misleading crime data for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While crime was almost certainly down in Oakland through April, the \u003cem>Chronicle’s\u003c/em> review of flawed Oakland police data found the city has been overstating the crime reduction, though it did find OPD’s data for homicides and violent crimes to be “mostly accurate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the Newsom press conference, Mitchell acknowledged the lag in the department’s reporting on property crime, however he insisted the data on crimes against people, like homicide and assault, are accurate. He said the department is in the process of implementing a new computer-aided dispatch program and a new records management system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Gov. Gavin Newsom said California Highway Patrol officers will be on Oakland streets seven days a week assisting with traffic enforcement, efforts to curtail sideshows and recovering stolen cars.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced a four-fold expansion of California Highway Patrol operations in the East Bay, stepping up the state’s law enforcement role as local authorities face criticism over crime and public safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Starting next week and continuing through the next four months, CHP officers will be on Oakland streets seven days a week assisting with traffic enforcement, efforts to curtail sideshows and recovering stolen cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deployment builds on CHP operations that started late last year and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11974920/newsom-to-deploy-120-chp-officers-to-fight-crime-surge-in-oakland\">expanded in February\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are back in Oakland mindful that there is still more work to be done, mindful that we need to step up our resources,” Newsom said at a news conference at Berry Bros. Towing in West Oakland, backed by rows of cars recovered by CHP. He was joined by Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell and CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, CHP operations in the East Bay have resulted in 562 arrests, the recovery of 1,162 stolen cars and the seizure of 55 firearms linked to crimes, according to the governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The February deployment led to the creation of a CHP crime suppression team that patrols hotspots such as Hegenberger Road in East Oakland. The CHP team also collaborates with other agencies on sideshow operations, combating vehicle theft, recovering cargo containers stolen from the Port of Oakland and tackling fencing operations at Oakland flea markets, among other things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The number of CHP officers on assignment in Oakland each week will rise from seven to 20.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am deeply grateful to Governor Newsom for providing these critical resources to support Oakland’s public safety strategy,” Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao said in a statement. “After years of rising crime rates, we are seeing a steady decrease — and we know this is in part because of the strong partnership between the Oakland Police Department and the California Highway Patrol.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement of the increased CHP presence comes amid reports that Newsom is rescinding an offer to send state attorneys to Oakland to help prosecute serious and complex crimes. The state provided similar assistance to San Francisco’s district attorney for fentanyl trafficking prosecutions last year. In \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/10yZPFwURVv0Qx4seEL4KnhQT6557Wmnu/view?usp=sharing\">a letter sent to Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price\u003c/a> Wednesday, Newsom’s administration accused Price’s office of failing to make use of the state’s resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our hope was that these resources could be used to support efforts to prosecute violent and drug-related crimes and meaningfully improve public safety in Alameda County,” Ann Patterson, Newsom’s cabinet secretary, wrote. “Despite our outreach, your office has yet to make use of these resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are mindful that we need to be more aggressive as it relates to the investigations and accountability, the prosecution of some of these cases.” Newsom said at the press conference. “So we’re moving forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added that the California National Guard attorney intended for the Alameda County DA’s office is being sent to the state Attorney General’s office, where they will prosecute state led cases involving crimes committed in Alameda County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a separate press conference Thursday afternoon, Price said Newsom’s characterization of her interest in the assistance was incorrect and misleading.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said her office was offered one attorney to work on drug cases for 60 days with the possibility of extending to 90 days. She said her deputies were provided a written agreement to bring on that attorney in April and were working to finalize it. She said miscommunication, summer vacations and other bureaucratic hurdles had led to delays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My primary concern was the amount of time that, if we’re going to bring someone on and train them and embed them in the office, I would want them to be here longer,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The devil is in the details,” Price continued. “And those details were in the process of being worked out. I hope that the governor will get the facts and call us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan to send state prosecutors to Oakland, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11975161/newsom-to-send-state-prosecutors-to-oakland-to-help-crack-down-on-rising-crime\">announced in February,\u003c/a> came on the heels of the governor’s decision to send 120 CHP officers to Oakland, where violent crimes — homicide, aggravated assault, robbery and rape — rose 21% from 2022 to 2023, according to \u003ca href=\"https://cityofoakland2.app.box.com/s/sjiq7usfy27gy9dfe51hp8arz5l1ixad/file/1404598604813\">Oakland Police Department data\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Citywide Weekly Crime Report posted earlier this week by OPD shows that violent crime is \u003ca href=\"https://cityofoakland2.app.box.com/s/sjiq7usfy27gy9dfe51hp8arz5l1ixad/file/1583885461436\">down 13%\u003c/a> from this point in 2023. But on Wednesday, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/oakland-police-data-reports-19545681.php\">the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em> reported\u003c/a> that Oakland has been publishing misleading crime data for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While crime was almost certainly down in Oakland through April, the \u003cem>Chronicle’s\u003c/em> review of flawed Oakland police data found the city has been overstating the crime reduction, though it did find OPD’s data for homicides and violent crimes to be “mostly accurate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the Newsom press conference, Mitchell acknowledged the lag in the department’s reporting on property crime, however he insisted the data on crimes against people, like homicide and assault, are accurate. He said the department is in the process of implementing a new computer-aided dispatch program and a new records management system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Newsom to Deploy 120 CHP Officers to Fight Crime Surge in Oakland",
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"content": "\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday announced plans to deploy 120 California Highway Patrol officers in and around Oakland as part of a “surge operation” to crack down on theft and violent crime in the city and surrounding area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s happening in this beautiful city and surrounding area is alarming and unacceptable,” Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/02/06/chp-surge-east-bay/\">said in a statement\u003c/a>, noting that as crime has dropped in many cities across the state — including \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/news/san-franciscos-public-safety-efforts-deliver-results-decline-crime-rates\">San Francisco\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://mayor.lacity.gov/news/lapd-reports-homicides-and-violent-crime-down-2023-mayor-bass-highlights-comprehensive\">Los Angeles\u003c/a> — it has continued to climb in Oakland. “I’m sending the California Highway Patrol to assist local efforts to restore a sense of safety that the hardworking people of Oakland and the East Bay demand and deserve.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deployment will mark a nearly 900% increase in CHP personnel in Oakland and Alameda County, according to the statement, and amounts to almost 20% of the total number of OPD officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Throughout the operation, the CHP’s efforts will include enforcement of auto theft, cargo theft, retail crime, and high-visibility proactive traffic enforcement in and around Oakland and Alameda County,” CHP spokesperson Jaime Coffee said. The strategy, he added, is to saturate the area with officers and investigators who will work directly with local law enforcement agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This will include CHP specialty units like narcotics-detecting K9 units and air support,” Coffee said. “CHP will also deploy license-plate reader technology to detect and recover stolen vehicles.”[aside label=\"More on Oakland crime issues\" postID=\"news_11974485,news_11961919,news_11928655\"]The governor’s move follows calls for assistance from a growing number of local organizations and politicians, including the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Mayor Sheng Thao. Last month, a group of Oakland community leaders \u003ca href=\"https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/oakland-leaders-meet-with-gov-newsom-to-address-crime/\">traveled to Sacramento\u003c/a> to meet with the governor and request more crime-fighting resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spate of recent headlines have focused on the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/14/us/oakland-crime-economy-homelessness.html\">rising crime rates, \u003c/a>economic woes, and the ongoing efforts to \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2024/01/09/oakland-mayor-sheng-thao-recall-campaign/\">recall its mayor\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11966518/pamela-price-recall-alameda-potential\">county’s district attorney\u003c/a> — largely over crime concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Violent crime in Oakland increased by 21% in 2023, compared to the previous year — with the number of homicides plateauing at 120 — while robberies climbed 38% and motor vehicle theft jumped 45%, \u003ca href=\"https://cityofoakland2.app.box.com/s/sjiq7usfy27gy9dfe51hp8arz5l1ixad/file/1404598604813\">according to Oakland Police Department end-of-year data\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Oakland police has a ‘no chase’ policy. Most of the criminals, they are jumping from one city to another, and OPD cannot chase them,” said Carl Chan, president of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, who was among the group of community advocates that attended the January meeting with Newsom. “The CHP has the right to go into all the different cities within the state. So that is extremely helpful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deployment also comes after the Newsom administration late last year distributed over $267 million in grants to local police and sheriff’s departments and district attorney’s offices throughout California to fight organized retail theft. But Oakland received none of that funding because \u003ca href=\"https://www.ktvu.com/news/emails-texts-help-explain-how-oakland-missed-out-on-millions-to-fight-retail-theft\">it missed the application deadline,\u003c/a> a blunder that Thao later said she, as mayor, took “full responsibility for.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The governor brought that up one, two, three times,” said Robert Harris of the Oakland NAACP, who was also at the January meeting. “He talked about the missed deadline, and then about 10 minutes later, he said the same thing over, ‘We’ve made that available to you, and you didn’t file.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Facing criticism from conservatives over his handling of crime in the state, Newsom has recently toughened his stance on the issue, \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/01/09/property-crime-framework/\">last month calling for new legislation \u003c/a>to expand criminal penalties for property crimes — even as he has so far \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/09/newsoms-property-crime-package-sidesteps-prop-47-00134448#:~:text=The%20governor%20is%20asking%20for,a%20contentious%20voter%2Dpassed%20initiative.\">sidestepped demands to reform Proposition 47\u003c/a>, the 2014 measure that reduced certain drug and theft crimes from felonies to misdemeanors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor’s office last year also \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/california-approves-oakland-bid-for-chp-officers-18274937.php\">sent six CHP officers\u003c/a> and a sergeant to Oakland to help with traffic enforcement and extended a $1.2 million loan to the city to install automated license-plate readers, leading to the arrest of 100 suspected criminals and the recovery of 193 stolen vehicles, it said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Newsom’s Tuesday statement, Thao welcomed the additional help from the state. She said Oakland was “hard at work turning the tide” on the city’s crime surge by increasing police recruitment, expanding investigations, and investing in violence intervention programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m grateful for Gov. Newsom for providing these critical law enforcement resources that are a game-changer in helping us hold more criminals accountable and make Oakland safer,” Thao said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the Anti Police-Terror Project, an Oakland-based criminal justice reform group, was quick to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/newsom-oakland-police-california-18650181.php\">criticize Newsom’s plan\u003c/a>, calling it a misguided investment that, unlike smart prevention strategies, would do little to reduce violent crime in the city and instead further stoke tensions between law enforcement and communities of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while Newsom’s statement underscored the need to bolster law enforcement in Oakland, it also listed community-based measures his administration has supported, some of which echo ideas proposed by the Oakland NAACP and other local groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The state has also expanded opportunities for youth by transforming Oakland’s schools into community schools, mandating and funding after-school programs, awarding Oakland grants for youth coaches, establishing targeted college and career savings accounts, and providing tuition-free community college for students at Oakland community colleges,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2019, it added, Alameda County has received over $1 billion from the state to boost affordable housing and over $200 million to address homelessness directly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can see that the governor was very serious about what he was saying, and he’s delivering on what he said,” said Bishop Bob Jackson, senior pastor of Acts Full Gospel Church. “He really cares about Oakland, and we were really glad about that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story includes reporting from KQED’s Matthew Green and Ruth Dusseault of Bay City News.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday announced plans to deploy 120 California Highway Patrol officers in and around Oakland as part of a “surge operation” to crack down on theft and violent crime in the city and surrounding area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s happening in this beautiful city and surrounding area is alarming and unacceptable,” Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/02/06/chp-surge-east-bay/\">said in a statement\u003c/a>, noting that as crime has dropped in many cities across the state — including \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/news/san-franciscos-public-safety-efforts-deliver-results-decline-crime-rates\">San Francisco\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://mayor.lacity.gov/news/lapd-reports-homicides-and-violent-crime-down-2023-mayor-bass-highlights-comprehensive\">Los Angeles\u003c/a> — it has continued to climb in Oakland. “I’m sending the California Highway Patrol to assist local efforts to restore a sense of safety that the hardworking people of Oakland and the East Bay demand and deserve.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deployment will mark a nearly 900% increase in CHP personnel in Oakland and Alameda County, according to the statement, and amounts to almost 20% of the total number of OPD officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Throughout the operation, the CHP’s efforts will include enforcement of auto theft, cargo theft, retail crime, and high-visibility proactive traffic enforcement in and around Oakland and Alameda County,” CHP spokesperson Jaime Coffee said. The strategy, he added, is to saturate the area with officers and investigators who will work directly with local law enforcement agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This will include CHP specialty units like narcotics-detecting K9 units and air support,” Coffee said. “CHP will also deploy license-plate reader technology to detect and recover stolen vehicles.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The governor’s move follows calls for assistance from a growing number of local organizations and politicians, including the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Mayor Sheng Thao. Last month, a group of Oakland community leaders \u003ca href=\"https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/oakland-leaders-meet-with-gov-newsom-to-address-crime/\">traveled to Sacramento\u003c/a> to meet with the governor and request more crime-fighting resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spate of recent headlines have focused on the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/14/us/oakland-crime-economy-homelessness.html\">rising crime rates, \u003c/a>economic woes, and the ongoing efforts to \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2024/01/09/oakland-mayor-sheng-thao-recall-campaign/\">recall its mayor\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11966518/pamela-price-recall-alameda-potential\">county’s district attorney\u003c/a> — largely over crime concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Violent crime in Oakland increased by 21% in 2023, compared to the previous year — with the number of homicides plateauing at 120 — while robberies climbed 38% and motor vehicle theft jumped 45%, \u003ca href=\"https://cityofoakland2.app.box.com/s/sjiq7usfy27gy9dfe51hp8arz5l1ixad/file/1404598604813\">according to Oakland Police Department end-of-year data\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Oakland police has a ‘no chase’ policy. Most of the criminals, they are jumping from one city to another, and OPD cannot chase them,” said Carl Chan, president of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, who was among the group of community advocates that attended the January meeting with Newsom. “The CHP has the right to go into all the different cities within the state. So that is extremely helpful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deployment also comes after the Newsom administration late last year distributed over $267 million in grants to local police and sheriff’s departments and district attorney’s offices throughout California to fight organized retail theft. But Oakland received none of that funding because \u003ca href=\"https://www.ktvu.com/news/emails-texts-help-explain-how-oakland-missed-out-on-millions-to-fight-retail-theft\">it missed the application deadline,\u003c/a> a blunder that Thao later said she, as mayor, took “full responsibility for.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The governor brought that up one, two, three times,” said Robert Harris of the Oakland NAACP, who was also at the January meeting. “He talked about the missed deadline, and then about 10 minutes later, he said the same thing over, ‘We’ve made that available to you, and you didn’t file.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Facing criticism from conservatives over his handling of crime in the state, Newsom has recently toughened his stance on the issue, \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/01/09/property-crime-framework/\">last month calling for new legislation \u003c/a>to expand criminal penalties for property crimes — even as he has so far \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/09/newsoms-property-crime-package-sidesteps-prop-47-00134448#:~:text=The%20governor%20is%20asking%20for,a%20contentious%20voter%2Dpassed%20initiative.\">sidestepped demands to reform Proposition 47\u003c/a>, the 2014 measure that reduced certain drug and theft crimes from felonies to misdemeanors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor’s office last year also \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/california-approves-oakland-bid-for-chp-officers-18274937.php\">sent six CHP officers\u003c/a> and a sergeant to Oakland to help with traffic enforcement and extended a $1.2 million loan to the city to install automated license-plate readers, leading to the arrest of 100 suspected criminals and the recovery of 193 stolen vehicles, it said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Newsom’s Tuesday statement, Thao welcomed the additional help from the state. She said Oakland was “hard at work turning the tide” on the city’s crime surge by increasing police recruitment, expanding investigations, and investing in violence intervention programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m grateful for Gov. Newsom for providing these critical law enforcement resources that are a game-changer in helping us hold more criminals accountable and make Oakland safer,” Thao said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the Anti Police-Terror Project, an Oakland-based criminal justice reform group, was quick to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/newsom-oakland-police-california-18650181.php\">criticize Newsom’s plan\u003c/a>, calling it a misguided investment that, unlike smart prevention strategies, would do little to reduce violent crime in the city and instead further stoke tensions between law enforcement and communities of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while Newsom’s statement underscored the need to bolster law enforcement in Oakland, it also listed community-based measures his administration has supported, some of which echo ideas proposed by the Oakland NAACP and other local groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The state has also expanded opportunities for youth by transforming Oakland’s schools into community schools, mandating and funding after-school programs, awarding Oakland grants for youth coaches, establishing targeted college and career savings accounts, and providing tuition-free community college for students at Oakland community colleges,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2019, it added, Alameda County has received over $1 billion from the state to boost affordable housing and over $200 million to address homelessness directly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can see that the governor was very serious about what he was saying, and he’s delivering on what he said,” said Bishop Bob Jackson, senior pastor of Acts Full Gospel Church. “He really cares about Oakland, and we were really glad about that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story includes reporting from KQED’s Matthew Green and Ruth Dusseault of Bay City News.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Newsom Taps California Highway Patrol, National Guard to Fight San Francisco’s Fentanyl Crisis",
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"content": "\u003cp>A new team of officers from the California Highway Patrol and the California National Guard will step in to train and assist San Francisco Police in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11947448/there-to-save-a-life-san-francisco-bars-fight-fentanyl-overdoses-with-narcan\">disrupting fentanyl\u003c/a> dealing and trafficking, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mobilization comes as overdose rates in the city have increased 41% across \u003ca href=\"https://sf.gov/sites/default/files/2023-04/2023%2004_OCME%20Overdose%20Report_0.pdf\">the first three months of this year (PDF)\u003c/a> compared with \u003ca href=\"https://sf.gov/sites/default/files/2023-03/2022_OCME%20Overdose%20Report_0.pdf\">the same time period in 2022 (PDF)\u003c/a>, when the city was operating a supervised consumption site. Trained staff at \u003ca href=\"https://sf.gov/data/reducing-fatal-and-non-fatal-overdoses-tenderloin#overdoses-reversed-at-the-tenderloin-center\">the facility reversed 333 overdoses in 11 months\u003c/a> before the facility closed, according to city data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those who traffic drugs, guns, and human beings are not welcome in our communities,” said Newsom in a press release. “That’s why we’re launching this operation. This is not about criminalizing people struggling with substance use — this is about taking down the prominent poison peddlers and their connected crime rings that prey on the most vulnerable, and harm our residents. While it’s true that San Francisco is safer than many cities its size, we cannot let rampant crime continue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948099\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11948099\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS31296_GettyImages-968048630-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A photo of a politician in a navy blue suit with navy and white tie, stands speaking from a podium with the U.S. and California state flags behind him.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS31296_GettyImages-968048630-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS31296_GettyImages-968048630-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS31296_GettyImages-968048630-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS31296_GettyImages-968048630-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS31296_GettyImages-968048630-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Friday, April 28, 2023, that a new team of officers from the California Highway Patrol and the California National Guard will step in to train and assist San Francisco police in disrupting fentanyl dealing and trafficking. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Starting May 1, CHP officers will help investigate opioid trafficking cases and train local police in identifying intoxicated drivers, city officials said on Friday. The effort will have a particular focus on the Tenderloin neighborhood, where the majority of overdose deaths have occurred this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additional CHP units will also patrol hot spots for drug dealing in the city “as workload allows,” according to the press release about the plan. So far, 75 CHP officers have been stationed in the San Francisco area, CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee told reporters at a press conference on Friday. He said he expects that number to increase to 84 in the coming weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, 14 members of the California National Guard (Cal Guard) will work remotely with SFPD on non-patrol operations such as improving administrative systems and responses to drug-related crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since January, San Francisco police have made more than 300 arrests for possession with intent to sell and seized 150% more fentanyl in the first three months of 2023 compared to 2022, according to the mayor’s office. On Tuesday, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced multiple charges against a 23-year-old arrested for carrying 11 pounds of fentanyl, an opioid about 50 times more potent than heroin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fentanyl has been involved in the vast majority of recent overdose deaths in San Francisco, data from the Office of the Medical Examiner shows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials on Friday did not state what the long-term plan for the intervention would entail, but seemed aware of how \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/politics/city-hall/analysis-political-history-haunts-mayor-breed-as-she-attempts-another-tenderloin-cleanup/\">similar crackdown efforts\u003c/a> in the neighborhood in the past and even \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/criminal-justice/da-jenkins-threatens-drug-dealers-with-more-jail-time-harsher-penalties-as-sf-fentanyl-crackdown-expands/\">more recently\u003c/a> have \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/drug-overdose-deaths-2023-17904060.php#:~:text=Quarterly%20accidental%20overdose%20deaths%20in%20San%20Francisco&text=Deaths%20reached%20a%20peak%20of,in%20Quarter%201%20of%202023.&text=Fentanyl%2Drelated-,The%20numbers%20are%20preliminary%20and%20subject%20to,more%20death%20investigations%20are%20completed.\">not shown success at slowing down sales, public drug use or overdose deaths\u003c/a> in the long run.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='More Stories on Fentanyl' tag='fentanyl']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we deploy large amounts of officers, the problem tends to go away while we are there,” said San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott. “The last thing we want to do is clean the streets up for a week, a month, then everyone goes back to what they were doing again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Justice and the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, both of which have called for tougher enforcement around drug dealing as public scrutiny over the overdose crisis mounts, are also supportive of the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fentanyl crisis is impacting our residents, workers, and businesses, and it requires all of us working together to disrupt the flow of drugs in San Francisco while also making sure we have treatment for those struggling with addiction,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said in a press release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This will send a strong message to those who are perpetrating these crimes,” she later said at Friday’s press conference.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"San Francisco Mayor London Breed\"]‘The fentanyl crisis is impacting our residents, workers, and businesses, and it requires all of us working together to disrupt the flow of drugs in San Francisco while also making sure we have treatment for those struggling with addiction.’[/pullquote]The proclamation Friday was reminiscent of Breed’s bold claim in 2021 that the city would crack down on the “bulls— that has destroyed our city,” which she said in \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/mayor-london-breed-declares-state-of-emergency-in-san-franciscos-troubled-tenderloin/\">announcing an emergency plan\u003c/a> to address the drug and overdose crisis in the Tenderloin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That effort brought together multiple city agencies to ramp up enforcement of dealing, clear sidewalks and offer new public health responses to drug use such as opening what became a supervised consumption site called the Tenderloin Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The facility closed at the end of 2022, a few months after Newsom vetoed legislation that would have allowed San Francisco, Los Angeles and Oakland to pilot safe consumption sites. Breed said the plan was only meant to be temporary and, on Friday, added the center “didn’t quite work out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948101\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11948101\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS53605_010_SanFrancisco_TLLinkageCenter_02082022-qut.jpg\" alt='A blue and yellow sign reads, \"Tenderloin Linkage Center Entrance.\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS53605_010_SanFrancisco_TLLinkageCenter_02082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS53605_010_SanFrancisco_TLLinkageCenter_02082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS53605_010_SanFrancisco_TLLinkageCenter_02082022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS53605_010_SanFrancisco_TLLinkageCenter_02082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS53605_010_SanFrancisco_TLLinkageCenter_02082022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Residents wait in line to get into the Tenderloin Linkage Center (also known as the Tenderloin Center), a now-defunct safe consumption site in San Francisco, on Feb. 8, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After the closing of the Tenderloin Center and the emergency plan’s winding down, overdose rates have again increased in 2023, data from the Office of the Medical Examiner shows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, public safety advocates applauded the governor’s decision to increase law enforcement around the issue, at a time when the \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2023/03/police-staffing-crisis-san-francisco/\">San Francisco Police Department is struggling\u003c/a> to recruit and retain a full workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just the mere presence of our officers we believe will help deter and disrupt criminal activity,” Duryee said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom said that his plan “will not seek to criminalize those struggling with substance use and instead focus on disrupting the supply fueling the fentanyl crisis by holding drug suppliers and traffickers accountable,” according to a press release on the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But addiction experts and advocates for people who use drugs say the move could nonetheless have unintended consequences, and negatively affect people who struggle with addiction and lack access to housing, health care or other support systems.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Dan Ciccarone, professor, UCSF\"]‘The outcome they want is to disturb the fentanyl supply. But usually these events are short-lived, and when they go away, the drug supply rebounds.’[/pullquote]“The outcome they want is to disturb the fentanyl supply. But usually these events are short-lived, and when they go away, the drug supply rebounds,” said Dan Ciccarone, professor and expert in addiction at UCSF. “When that happens, people die. People reduce their tolerance during the prohibition and go back to normal use when the supply rebounds and overdose rates shoot up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reporters on Friday asked Breed whether she shared concerns from some community members that the federal support and stricter law enforcement approach could replicate some of the devastation of the war on drugs, which \u003ca href=\"https://ldi.upenn.edu/our-work/research-updates/the-war-on-drugs-as-structural-racism/\">fueled overrepresentation\u003c/a> of Black and Latino people imprisoned for drug-related crimes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have more concerns about the number of people who are dying of drug overdoses and the families and people struggling in their neighborhoods,” Breed responded. “I want the streets to be safe … and part of that includes all of the great programs we are doing, but there has to be accountability attached to this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A new team of officers from the California Highway Patrol and the California National Guard will step in to train and assist San Francisco Police in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11947448/there-to-save-a-life-san-francisco-bars-fight-fentanyl-overdoses-with-narcan\">disrupting fentanyl\u003c/a> dealing and trafficking, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mobilization comes as overdose rates in the city have increased 41% across \u003ca href=\"https://sf.gov/sites/default/files/2023-04/2023%2004_OCME%20Overdose%20Report_0.pdf\">the first three months of this year (PDF)\u003c/a> compared with \u003ca href=\"https://sf.gov/sites/default/files/2023-03/2022_OCME%20Overdose%20Report_0.pdf\">the same time period in 2022 (PDF)\u003c/a>, when the city was operating a supervised consumption site. Trained staff at \u003ca href=\"https://sf.gov/data/reducing-fatal-and-non-fatal-overdoses-tenderloin#overdoses-reversed-at-the-tenderloin-center\">the facility reversed 333 overdoses in 11 months\u003c/a> before the facility closed, according to city data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those who traffic drugs, guns, and human beings are not welcome in our communities,” said Newsom in a press release. “That’s why we’re launching this operation. This is not about criminalizing people struggling with substance use — this is about taking down the prominent poison peddlers and their connected crime rings that prey on the most vulnerable, and harm our residents. While it’s true that San Francisco is safer than many cities its size, we cannot let rampant crime continue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948099\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11948099\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS31296_GettyImages-968048630-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A photo of a politician in a navy blue suit with navy and white tie, stands speaking from a podium with the U.S. and California state flags behind him.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS31296_GettyImages-968048630-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS31296_GettyImages-968048630-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS31296_GettyImages-968048630-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS31296_GettyImages-968048630-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS31296_GettyImages-968048630-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Friday, April 28, 2023, that a new team of officers from the California Highway Patrol and the California National Guard will step in to train and assist San Francisco police in disrupting fentanyl dealing and trafficking. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Starting May 1, CHP officers will help investigate opioid trafficking cases and train local police in identifying intoxicated drivers, city officials said on Friday. The effort will have a particular focus on the Tenderloin neighborhood, where the majority of overdose deaths have occurred this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additional CHP units will also patrol hot spots for drug dealing in the city “as workload allows,” according to the press release about the plan. So far, 75 CHP officers have been stationed in the San Francisco area, CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee told reporters at a press conference on Friday. He said he expects that number to increase to 84 in the coming weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we deploy large amounts of officers, the problem tends to go away while we are there,” said San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott. “The last thing we want to do is clean the streets up for a week, a month, then everyone goes back to what they were doing again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Justice and the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, both of which have called for tougher enforcement around drug dealing as public scrutiny over the overdose crisis mounts, are also supportive of the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fentanyl crisis is impacting our residents, workers, and businesses, and it requires all of us working together to disrupt the flow of drugs in San Francisco while also making sure we have treatment for those struggling with addiction,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said in a press release.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This will send a strong message to those who are perpetrating these crimes,” she later said at Friday’s press conference.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘The fentanyl crisis is impacting our residents, workers, and businesses, and it requires all of us working together to disrupt the flow of drugs in San Francisco while also making sure we have treatment for those struggling with addiction.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The proclamation Friday was reminiscent of Breed’s bold claim in 2021 that the city would crack down on the “bulls— that has destroyed our city,” which she said in \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/mayor-london-breed-declares-state-of-emergency-in-san-franciscos-troubled-tenderloin/\">announcing an emergency plan\u003c/a> to address the drug and overdose crisis in the Tenderloin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That effort brought together multiple city agencies to ramp up enforcement of dealing, clear sidewalks and offer new public health responses to drug use such as opening what became a supervised consumption site called the Tenderloin Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The facility closed at the end of 2022, a few months after Newsom vetoed legislation that would have allowed San Francisco, Los Angeles and Oakland to pilot safe consumption sites. Breed said the plan was only meant to be temporary and, on Friday, added the center “didn’t quite work out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11948101\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11948101\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS53605_010_SanFrancisco_TLLinkageCenter_02082022-qut.jpg\" alt='A blue and yellow sign reads, \"Tenderloin Linkage Center Entrance.\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS53605_010_SanFrancisco_TLLinkageCenter_02082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS53605_010_SanFrancisco_TLLinkageCenter_02082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS53605_010_SanFrancisco_TLLinkageCenter_02082022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS53605_010_SanFrancisco_TLLinkageCenter_02082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS53605_010_SanFrancisco_TLLinkageCenter_02082022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Residents wait in line to get into the Tenderloin Linkage Center (also known as the Tenderloin Center), a now-defunct safe consumption site in San Francisco, on Feb. 8, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After the closing of the Tenderloin Center and the emergency plan’s winding down, overdose rates have again increased in 2023, data from the Office of the Medical Examiner shows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, public safety advocates applauded the governor’s decision to increase law enforcement around the issue, at a time when the \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2023/03/police-staffing-crisis-san-francisco/\">San Francisco Police Department is struggling\u003c/a> to recruit and retain a full workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just the mere presence of our officers we believe will help deter and disrupt criminal activity,” Duryee said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom said that his plan “will not seek to criminalize those struggling with substance use and instead focus on disrupting the supply fueling the fentanyl crisis by holding drug suppliers and traffickers accountable,” according to a press release on the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But addiction experts and advocates for people who use drugs say the move could nonetheless have unintended consequences, and negatively affect people who struggle with addiction and lack access to housing, health care or other support systems.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The outcome they want is to disturb the fentanyl supply. But usually these events are short-lived, and when they go away, the drug supply rebounds,” said Dan Ciccarone, professor and expert in addiction at UCSF. “When that happens, people die. People reduce their tolerance during the prohibition and go back to normal use when the supply rebounds and overdose rates shoot up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reporters on Friday asked Breed whether she shared concerns from some community members that the federal support and stricter law enforcement approach could replicate some of the devastation of the war on drugs, which \u003ca href=\"https://ldi.upenn.edu/our-work/research-updates/the-war-on-drugs-as-structural-racism/\">fueled overrepresentation\u003c/a> of Black and Latino people imprisoned for drug-related crimes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have more concerns about the number of people who are dying of drug overdoses and the families and people struggling in their neighborhoods,” Breed responded. “I want the streets to be safe … and part of that includes all of the great programs we are doing, but there has to be accountability attached to this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
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"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
"airtime": "SAT 4pm-5pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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"link": "/radio/program/reveal",
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"rss": "http://feeds.revealradio.org/revealpodcast"
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"order": 16
},
"link": "/podcasts/rightnowish",
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