Family sues Riverside County after sheriff's deputy runs red light, killing a man and injuring his fiance
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Gavin Hinkley and his fiancée were running errands in September for their wedding, which was weeks away, when a Riverside County sheriff’s patrol vehicle barreled toward them at 100 mph, running through a red light and colliding with the driver’s side of their car.Hinkley, 21, died at the crash site, and his fiancée, 20-year-old Madeline Fox, suffered “catastrophic” injuries, including permanent brain trauma, according to a lawsuit filed last week by their families against Riverside County.The suit alleges that the “grossly negligent” and reckless conduct of deputy Glynn Wilburn, who was driving the patrol car, caused Hinkley’s death and Fox’s serious physical and mental impairment, grief and emotional distress.Hinkley had been driving the couple’s Tesla and was making a left turn at the intersection of Cherry Valley Boulevard and Roberts Street in the city of Calimesa.Wilburn, a defendant in the lawsuit, began to brake just before the impact, but was still driving at 98 mph in the seconds before the car slowed to about 72 mph, the suit says.Riverside County, Southern California Edison, American Medical Response of Southern California and the cities of Calimesa and Beaumont are also named as defendants in the suit filed April 30 in Riverside County Superior Court.Spencer Lucas, an attorney representing the families with the firm Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP, said the deputy was responding to a dispatch, but regardless, law enforcement must operate with a reasonable level of safety and care.“There’s no excuse for a cowboy cop to be barreling down a two-lane road through a red light.
...He was driving so far in excess of what would be reasonable,” Lucas said in an interview with The Times.
“This tragic crash was completely preventable.”The suit says Southern California Edison erred because its utility equipment blocked visibility, preventing Hinkley from ...