Nearly six months after a beloved teacher, Marvin Boomer, was killed in a collision following a highway patrol chase, The Oaklandside has learned his family will file suit next week against multiple agencies for their role in the tragedy. 

Michelle Bernard, a civil rights lawyer based in Washington, D.C., said she will submit two separate wrongful death claims on behalf of Boomer’s family and Boomer’s partner on Tuesday or Wednesday next week. One suit will name the City of Oakland and the Oakland Police Department, and the other will name the California Highway Patrol and the State of California.. California law requires that a wrongful death claim be filed within six months of an incident, or November 28, in this case. 

Boomer, 39, was widely respected during his time at Castlemont High School, where he led the career program. He was killed on May 28 while he was walking with his partner, Ta Ta Neshe Woodruff, who goes by Nina. That evening, the couple was strolling on a sidewalk on E. 21st Street, near Boomer’s home in the San Antonio neighborhood, when an 18-year-old Oakland high school student named Eric Hernandez Garcia lost control of his car and careened into a fire hydrant. The teacher pushed Woodruff aside as the hydrant headed their way, and it killed him instantly. 

In the aftermath of the tragedy, family, witnesses, and members of the community blamed the collision on the CHP, which began pursuing Hernandez Garcia for a possible misdemeanor when he stopped at a gas station about 25 minutes before the crash. The agency claimed the pursuit ended soon after it started and well before the collision. 

Bernard said the case against Oakland will argue that a dangerous pothole on E. 21st Street was an “exacerbating or substantial factor” in his death. According to residents who spoke to The Oaklandside that week, an orange cone had been placed over that hole, which Hernandez Garcia appeared to careen around as he sped up the hill, leading to a loss of control of his car. 

The case against the Oakland Police Department, Bernard said, will argue that their officers failed to render proper emergency medical aid to Woodruff in the aftermath of the collision, accused her of being a passenger in the suspect’s car, and “mishandled” Boomer’s remains, which led to “worsening emotional trauma to family members.” 

The case against the California Highway Patrol and the State of California, she said, will include a claim of negligence from an “unreasonable” speed pursuit that led to Boomer’s death and “catastrophic” injuries to Woodruff. 

Bernard said that she will pursue damages “in the tens of millions of dollars against each entity.” Boomer’s family and Woodriff will be co-plaintiffs in each of the two lawsuits 

37 depositions
From left, Marvin Boomer, Sr., left, Dorothenia Lenoris Martin-Boomer and Tynesha Boomer, Marvin Boomer’s parents and oldest sister, sit inside Marvin Boomer’s home in Oakland’s Highland Terrace neighborhood on June 5, 2025. Marvin Boomer was a Castlemont High School teacher who was killed when a suspect fleeing from the California Highway Patrol struck a fire hydrant, which hit Boomer while he was out walking with his partner. Credit: Estefany Gonzalez

Bernard said she had taken 37 depositions to build her case. Some of them were East Oakland residents who contacted her with evidence, including video, that CHP officers were speeding during the pursuit. She also said she is working with an investigator who has determined that the video released by the CHP from its drone, which followed the driver, makes it appear they’re farther behind the driver, and driving more slowly, than they actually were, because of the road’s multiple hills.  

“So if Hernandez Garcia is driving up the hill and he’s gone over the crest and the police are not right behind him, it’s not because they were going slow — it was because they were at the bottom of the hill with their lights and accelerating to catch up with him, and he was at the top of the hill,” she said.

Bernard said the family will also eventually sue Hernandez Garcia and his family’s car insurance company, but they have a two-year window to file that claim. 

Bernard told The Oaklandside the last few months have been a nightmare for Boomer’s immediate family on the East Coast, especially his mother, as well as for his chosen family in Oakland. 

Boomer’s family, which Bernard described as pro–law enforcement, is struggling with the argument by CHP that the only person responsible for the death was Hernandez Garcia, given that CHP’s actions on International Boulevard spooked him into his attempt to escape. Bernard said they also failed to understand why the teen wasn’t apprehended when he slowed down to call his teacher as he was panicking or when he crashed into a parked SUV next to Park Boulevard Plaza park.

“If the police had detained him at the first stop, or when he hit that van, Marvin would be alive and Nina would be living her life and that kid would be in trouble, but not facing life in prison,” Bernard said.

“It feels to them like his life didn’t matter, especially when there are no real answers.”

Woodruff suffered significant injuries, some of which Bernard said may be permanent. A document describing those injuries, which The Oaklandside reviewed with Woodruff’s permission, listed orthopedic and brain injuries, including arm fractures. And Bernard said the physical pain she deals with is threaded with emotional loss. 

“She can never put this out of her mind because her body is a daily reminder of his death and of what happened,” Bernard said. “She will see this every day for the rest of her life. And every day she will remember that accident. And that is very difficult.”  

Hernandez Garcia has been in jail without bail since his arrest last summer. He was arraigned on seven charges, including vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, leaving the scene of an accident, and evading an officer while causing a death. He has pleaded not guilty.

Bernard said that Hernandez Garcia’s lawyer, Martin Caraves, has not returned her calls. When we reached out to Caraves, a legal assistant told us that he was unavailable because he was in the middle of a trial and said that his office was conducting an investigation into the Boomer case. 

In the meantime, Bernard said she has been in touch with Alameda County prosecutors about the criminal case. She said she will be meeting with prosecutors next week and that a pretrial hearing is scheduled for Dec. 11 in Department 115 of the Wiley Manual courthouse in Oakland. 

The City of Oakland and the OPD did not immediately respond to requests for comment. CHP Sergeant Andrew Barclay, who leads the local CHP communications teams, responded to our comment request, saying the California Highway Patrol “does not comment on pending litigation.”

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