Latest news with #CHP
Los Angeles Times
5 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
A baby tiger was reported on the side of a California highway. The CHP found something very different
The California Highway Patrol responded to a call this week of a possible baby tiger stranded on the side of a highway in San Luis Obispo County. But what they actually discovered was less feline and more feathery. The supposed cub was spotted along a remote stretch of Highway 166, which connects the Central Coast to the southern San Joaquin Valley, according to a CHP traffic log. A driver passing through the area Thursday afternoon reported what appeared to be a baby tiger on the roadside. A CHP officer sent to investigate the incident stumbled instead upon a dead hawk, not a tiger cub. The California Department of Transportation, which is responsible for removing dead animals from state highways, was notified about the deceased bird. It is unclear what caused the caller's zoological mix-up. Owning exotic animals like tigers is prohibited under California law, as they pose a threat to public safety and native wildlife, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. Permits are exclusive to zoos, shelters, research facilities or educational institutions. The Big Cat Public Safety Act — a federal law enacted in 2022 — prevents unlicensed people from possessing, breeding and transporting big cats. A man and woman were charged in 2022 after purchasing a jaguar cub and transporting it from Texas to California for commercial activity.
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Yahoo
Oxnard man leads high-speed chase up, down Highway 101
An Oxnard man evaded two spike strips and three attempts by authorities to push him off course with their own cars during an hour-long, high-speed chase up and down Highway 101 between Oxnard and the San Fernando Valley June 26. Driving a white work van, the 39-year-old electrician, was pursued for more than 70 miles by California Highway Patrol units from Ventura, Moorpark and the West Valley. The chase began around 7:09 p.m. when a motorist called 911 during an alleged road rage incident in Oxnard with the Oxnard man. It ultimately ended at 8:16 p.m. when units from the CHP's Ventura office took him into custody after following him off the freeway, north on Oxnard Boulevard and through a nearby mobile home park. The man was arrested June 26 on suspicion of felony evading an officer and several misdemeanors. He was booked into Ventura County jail and is being held on $100,100 bail. He is set to appear in Ventura County Superior Court June 30, jail records show. At the time of the chase, he was also wanted on active warrants for three felony gun and ammunition offenses, according to court records. 'He wouldn't talk to us regarding why (he didn't stop),' said Sgt. Mike Untalan of the CHP's Ventura office. 'We can only assume it was for the warrants.' The chase began shortly after Oxnard police responded to the road rage incident between the two vehicles in Oxnard. 'Something happened within the city limits with a female party and him,' Untalan said. 'He started following her. She was fearing something was going to happen, so she called 911.' A unit from the Oxnard police department attempted to stop the man. 'And the chase was on,' Untalan said. Units from the CHP's Ventura office trailed the man southbound on Highway 101 from Rose Avenue to the Camarillo grade. He evaded a spike strip near the Camarillo Springs Road exit. The Ventura County Sherrif's Office attempted to assist with a helicopter, but there was not enough visibility to do so safely. A unit from CHP's Moorpark office joined the pursuit until the county line, when the CHP's West Valley office took over. Those units attempted two unsuccessful maneuvers to ram and disable the vehicle after the man exited the freeway at Valley Circle Boulevard in West Hills. 'The suspect… got back on the 101 Northbound and entered back into Ventura County,' Untalan said. Local CHP reentered the chase and attempted a second unsuccessful spike strip near the highway's Pleasant Valley Road exit. The van driver continued near the Rose Avenue exit, where authorities were able to use a ramming maneuver to spin him out from the second lane of the northbound 101 to the first lane. 'A moment after he was about to get out of the car, he sped off again,' Untalan said. The driver exited at Vineyard Avenue and made a left onto Oxnard Boulevard. 'He was using all lanes of traffic, going around other vehicles,' Untalan said. Eventually, the man pulled into the mobile home park where he was cornered. CHP officers pulled the driver out of the van, ending the pursuit. Joe Curley is a staff writer for The Star. He can be reached at For more coverage, follow @vcsjoecurley on Twitter/X, Instagram/Threads, Facebook and Bluesky. This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Oxnard electrician leads high-speed chase up and down Highway 101
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Driver's disabilities led to CHP chase and crash that killed Oakland teacher, lawyer says
An 18-year-old man who authorities say led the California Highway Patrol on a chase in Oakland and then crashed into two pedestrians, killing a beloved high school teacher, has cognitive disabilities that cause him to panic and act on impulse, according to his attorney. Scared after he sped away from CHP officers who tried to pull him over, Eric Hernandez-Garcia called his special education teacher to ask for guidance, attorney Martin Caraves said in court documents, offering new details about the May 28 incident. His first instinct upon fleeing was not to endanger others, Caraves said, 'but to seek help from a trusted adult — his special education teacher.' 'His actions were a desperate and misguided attempt to flee, not a deliberate effort to injure anyone,' the attorney said. The teacher, Caraves said, instructed Hernandez-Garcia to drive to her house, which his client did. But after he parked and got out, a patrol car pulled up. He drove away in a state of 'escalating panic,' driven by his cognitive disabilities, Caraves said. Police and prosecutors have charged Hernandez-Garcia with vehicular manslaughter and other felonies in connection with the pursuit and crash, which killed Castlemont High School teacher Marvin Boomer and seriously injured Boomer's partner, Nina Woodruff. The couple had been walking on East 21st Street when they were struck. Caraves said Hernandez-Garcia has been diagnosed with a 'specific learning disability,' a term for conditions that impact academic skills, and a so-called 'other health impairment,' a health-related condition that impacts academic performance. Hernandez-Garcia's disabilities, Caraves said, 'primarily affect his attention and executive functioning,' a term for cognitive processes and mental skills. 'The defense is actively investigating just how Eric's cognitive disabilities and his mental state contributed to this catastrophic outcome,' the attorney said. It was unclear whether Hernandez-Garcia had a driver's license, given his disabilities. In an interview, Caraves declined to say. The Alameda County District Attorney's Office declined to comment on Caraves' filings. A spokeswoman for the Boomer family did not respond to a request for comment. In filing the documents, Caraves pushed for $50,000 bail for Hernandez-Garcia, but at a hearing last week, Alameda Superior Court Judge Elena Condes rejected the request: She ordered Hernandez-Garcia to remain in jail on a no-bail status, finding it was a necessary move to protect the public. Hernandez-Garcia, who turned 18 nearly three months before the crash, has dealt with disabilities since first grade, according to the court filings. He graduated from Arise High School a few weeks ago and planned to study welding at Universal Technical Institute in Sacramento, Caraves said in the documents. The filings included letters in which acquaintances, including Catholic clergy, attested to Hernandez-Garcia's character, describing him as a kind, non-violent young man with strong ties to St. Elizabeth Parish in East Oakland since 2011. Over the years, he volunteered at the church. The letters, Caraves said, show Hernandez-Garcia, who had no prior criminal history, 'made a terrible mistake in a state of fear and panic.' The tragic series of events started with a pursuit after CHP officers tried to stop a car in a parking lot around 7:30 p.m. The car was wanted in connection with a past incident in which it fled from Alameda sheriff's deputies, authorities said. Within 40 seconds, as the driver sped away, the CHP called off the pursuit, the agency said. Instead a CHP plane followed the car. About 15 minutes into the incident, the driver, later identified as Hernandez-Garcia, pulled over and briefly got out of the car, but as officers in a patrol car pulled up, he jumped back in and drove off again, according to the CHP and aerial footage. The officers gave chase for about 30 seconds, until the driver crashed into a minivan near an intersection. As the driver continued to drive away, the CHP plane continued to track the car. Some 20 seconds later, the speeding driver careened onto a sidewalk and slammed into a fire hydrant, a tree and Boomer and Woodruff, according to CHP and Ring home surveillance camera footage obtained by the Chronicle. Woodruff previously told the Chronicle she saw the car hurtle toward them. Then, in an instant, she said, she blacked out. Woodruff blamed both the CHP and the driver for the crash. Woodruff said she saw a law enforcement vehicle behind the car before she blacked out, but CHP footage does not show a police vehicle pursuing Hernandez-Garcia at the time he struck the couple. After the crash, Hernandez-Garcia ran away, but officers chased him down about a block away. In the moments after he was arrested, he told officers he had never been pulled over before. 'I was nervous,' he said, standing on a sidewalk in handcuffs, according to dash cam footage obtained by the Chronicle. When an officer brought up that the car he was in was wanted, Hernandez-Garcia replied that the car was previously stolen, according to the video. 'And right now I was scared,' he said. 'Have you not been scared before?' 'You scared me … the way you were driving,' an officer responded. 'I was scared the whole time.' In an interview, Caraves said the car Hernandez-Garcia was driving was registered to his mother. He declined to comment on the incident for which it was wanted, except to say he had not yet received or reviewed a police report on the incident. Caraves said he does not view Hernandez-Garcia's mental state at the time of the pursuit and crash as a 'defense, per se,' although he said he plans to have a psychologist evaluate Hernandez-Garcia and may try to divert the case to a court program that would allow Hernandez-Garcia to opt for mental health treatment as an alternative to prosecution. 'That's something we're exploring,' the attorney said.
CBS News
3 days ago
- CBS News
Train crashes into semi truck in Moorpark, killing driver
A train collided with a tractor-trailer in Moorpark on Wednesday afternoon, killing the driver and injuring at least one other person. The crash happened at around 2:30 p.m. on a private crossing that runs parallel to Los Angeles Avenue, according to a Metrolink spokesperson. California Highway Patrol officers say that the driver of the semi truck was killed in the collision. They also advised drivers to be wary of emergency vehicles heading to the area via SR-118, which is just south of where the incident occurred. Metrolink says that one of the 25 passengers on the board suffered a minor injury. It's unclear if they required hospitalization. It's unclear why the truck was on the train tracks.
CBS News
3 days ago
- CBS News
2 drivers arrested near Modesto after alleged street race ends in crash
Two drivers are under arrest after an alleged street race near Modesto ended in a crash Tuesday night. California Highway Patrol Modesto said a Chevy Camaro lost control when turning on Pirrone Road from Stoddard Road, crashing into a nearby orchard. Officers allege the Camaro was racing a Ford Mustang. After the crash, both drivers were arrested and their cars were impounded for 30 days. Scene after the crash. CHP Modesto CHP said the Camaro allegedly had a retractable license plate cover to hide its identity. Police have given no further details on the identities of the racers. The area where the crash happened is about 8 miles north of Modesto, near the community of Salida.
