MLPD press release
Mammoth Lakes, CA – On Thursday, August 4, 2016, the Mammoth Lakes Police Department responded to a traffic collision on Main Street at Mountain Boulevard at approximately 2054 hours.
The deceased has been identified by the Mono County Sheriff’s Department as Gary Walker, age 61, of Mammoth Lakes.
The driver of the initial vehicle has been identified as Jesus Antonio Perezburboa, age 26, of Mammoth Lakes.
The driver of the hit and run vehicle contacted MLPD regarding the collision. The driver and vehicle have been located by the Sacramento Police Department. The driver was identified as Connor Harkins, age 27, of Sacramento. Forensics of the vehicle were completed by SPD.
We continue to urge anyone who may have witnessed the incident or has more information regarding Mr. Walker’s activity prior to the collision to contact the Mammoth Lakes Police Department at (760) 965-3700.
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Rick..I’m betting..if guilty of hit and run,a good chance that will be the only charge…not resulting in the death of the person that was already hit by the other vehicle…
I wasn’t even gonna comment on this until I remembered about the rush to judgement on the bank robbery . They hauled a guy 300 miles back to Mammoth like a hardened criminal on nothing more than a grainy photo ID. I realize that investigations take time, but it just seems to me, if Mammoth PD can justify having another police agency arrest a guy for robbery with zero evidence, and not even check out his alibi before transporting him all the way back to Mono County, could do the same for someone that’s admittedly committed a felony hit and run, resulting in the death of another human being. You made a lot of great points, SM, but hit and run is still hit and run, it doesn’t matter if he (Gary) was at fault or not .
They’re probably waiting to get more information from the coroner. They certainly could charge him with hit and run, and leaving the scene of an accident (I know when I hit a squirrel, this guy can’t possibly claim he didn’t know he hit something significant), but the fact that someone else hit a person first, might mean that the impact is not his fault.
Let’s talk about the first driver. How fast was he going that things (and a person) flew as far as they did. The painted orange circles on the street cover well over 30 feet. I’m hoping the MLPD or CHP have the ability to model the data they have to determine the driver’s speed. I’m going to guess he was travelling well above the speed limit, based on the damage to his car and the distance things flew.
And I have to wonder if his lights were on. Why wouldn’t Gary have seen the car? It seems evident by the damage to the car, and where the impact was on the car, that Gary never saw the car. Otherwise he would’ve taken evasive action. To get slammed into by the very center of the front of the car indicates he never saw the car, and the driver never saw him.
Being struck by the center of the car also indicates that Gary wasn’t walking slightly in the lane, near the shoulder. He had to have been crossing the street. While the intersection only having 3 lights (not 4), and the one dark quadrant being the spot where Gary was hit, explains the driver not seeing Gary, it doesn’t explain Gary not seeing the car.
We see it all the time, cars soon after dark driving without lights on.
It’s really the only explanation for what happened. and yes, I’m assuming Gary was not drunk out of his mind, which toxicology will ultimately answer. That would be completely out of character for him and not likely given the prices of the beers that night at Brews and Blues. Like most Mammoth locals, Gary lived frugally, happy to be here but scrimping to pay the bills each month.
There’s no rush to charge the people involved. I’d like to see the investigation be completed, and charges filed as appropriate based on the findings.
You were always so critical of my work, it made me a better design engineer. I will never forget you, “Model Maker 3”. Rest in Paradise Gary.
If the driver of the hit & run vehicle has been ID’d, why is he not cooling his heels in the Bridgeport lockup ? I seen to remember a bank robbery suspect that was arrested by Santa Monica PD and was transported back to Mammoth in handcuffs and he wasn’t even the right guy. Now you got a guy who’s killed a man and you won’t go to Sacramento to pick him up to face justice ? What’s wrong with this picture ?