PAL’s flight kills teen
Jul 15th, 2010 | By pacovilla | Category: Gold Star Parolee, SpotlightFleeing PAL crashes, kills
San Jose: Girl, 15, dies after crash involving driver chased by CHP
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWSJuly 15–A chase through busy San Jose streets that began when a California Highway Patrol officer pursued a car making an illegal turn has now led to the death of a teen passenger in the vehicle struck by the fleeing car.
Bernardino Cuebas, 24, who is being held without bail, may now face murder charges for the Tuesday afternoon crash. Cuebas is due to be arraigned today. The teenager, who died Wednesday morning, has not yet been identified.
Officers did not find out until after the incident that Cuebas was a felon with a history of fleeing police. Both the CHP and the San Jose Police Department — who split up the investigation — declined Wednesday to release further details of the urban pursuit, which ran for at least eight-tenths of a mile, and crash, including the exact route, speeds and rationale for the chase…
Cuebas, who was initially identified as Cuevas, has 13 arrests in the county, including multiple convictions for drug use and a prior conviction for reckless driving while evading police. He was recently released from county jail, according to court records…
In 2007, Cuebas pleaded no contest to felony charges of vehicle theft and reckless driving and was sentenced to two years in prison. The complaint filed by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office stated that Cuebas attempted to flee from police and drove a stolen vehicle “in willful and wanton disregard for the safety of persons and property.”
Cuebas was last arrested Dec. 2 by San Jose police and eventually pleaded no contest to charges of possession of methamphetamine and being under the influence of meth, according to court documents and the district attorney’s office. He received a six-month sentence and was released April 1… a spokesman for the parole division of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said agents issued a no-bail warrant June 10 after failing to make contact with Cuebas, a violation of the conditions of his parole. Cuebas was considered a high-control parolee..
…Cuebas fled from the CHP officer and allegedly ran through a red light at San Fernando Street, broadsiding a Mitsubishi Mirage that was heading south on 10th Street. The Mitsubishi was hit with such force that it nearly split in two, and the 15-year-old girl was flung into the street, authorities said.
Two other children in the Mitsubishi, a 12-year-old boy and 6-year-old girl, were listed in stable condition Wednesday…(Full text of San Jose Mercury News article)
Use a car, go to prison?
Not surprisingly, the San Jose Police Department and CHP are deemed the bad guys in this tragedy. To wit, John Phillips, owner of a site called PursuitWatch.org, said “What we have here is a dumb, young criminal making another poor decision. We should not compound their bad decisions with our own.”
Yep. Chalk another death up to youthful indiscretion and police exuberance.
Isn’t it time for this society to get serious about reckless endangerment? Or, as Phillips advocates, shall we give criminals a free pass, holding only the police accountable for chases and related collisions?
Surely, vehicular flight (evasion, failure to yield, disregard for public safety et al.) merits classification as a violent felony. As this story illustrates, innocent people are routinely killed and injured by vehicles under the control (for lack of a better term) of fleeing felons–Perhaps a vehicular flight enhancement on the order of existing firearm enhancements is the answer. Check that…IT IS THE ANSWER.
Stiff, mandatory prison terms and violent offender classification for car chase idiots will surely protect the innocent better than giving criminals permission to be urban Dukes of Hazard–Use a car, go to prison.
I’ve been saying for a long time that evading arrest should not even be just an enhancement, the sentence should be twice the time of the crime they’re evading arrest for. Now, the evading charge is usually plead out so they don’t have anything to lose!
I thought there already was a stiff, mandatory prison term for “reckless evasion”. Trouble is, it is sometimes not enforced.
Various media outlets in the area are now reporting that he is being charged with murder.