BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — The Kern County Coroner’s Office has identified the motorcyclist killed after a vehicle unsafely crossed a solid white line on the Ming Avenue on-ramp to Highway 99/58 and was struck by multiple vehicles as 39-year-old Manuel Hernandez Jr. of Shafter.
The California Highway Patrol said on Saturday, March 21, 2026, at around 9:25 p.m., officers were called to Highway 99, north of Ming Avenue, for a report of a traffic crash involving a motorcycle.
CHP said a preliminary investigation found that Hernandez Jr. was riding a 2025 Kawasaki KX350 motorcycle northbound on Highway 99 to the westbound Highway 58 transition road within the number one lane at an undetermined rate of speed. A man was driving a 2011 Chevrolet Tahoe on the Ming Avenue on-ramp to the northbound Highway 99 to westbound State Route 58 transition road at about 45 to 50 miles per hour when he unsafely crossed the solid white edge line dividing the transition road and on-ramp lanes.
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The Chevrolet’s unsafe lane change caused the Kawasaki to collide with the left side of the Chevrolet.
The Kawasaki rider, Hernandez Jr., was ejected and remained in the lanes, where he was subsequently struck by multiple vehicles, according to CHP.
Hernandez Jr. died at the scene.
CHP said it was determined that alcohol and/or drugs do not appear to be a factor in this crash.
A GoFundMe was created for Hernandez Jr. It said, “Manuel was the kind of person you didn’t forget—full of energy, always joking, always making people laugh when they needed it most.”