BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 A Wasco couple was arrested after allegedly speeding through an active work zone in McFarland, brandishing a knife, and pepper-spraying two Public Works employees Monday morning.<\/p>\n
The McFarland Police Department said on February 3, 2026, at around 10:45 a.m., two City of McFarland Public Works employees were conducting street maintenance work near the intersection of Browning Road and Glenwood Avenue.<\/p>\n
McFarland police said during the course of their work, a white Chevrolet SUV occupied by a man and a woman allegedly drove through the active work zone at a high rate of speed. The city employees warned those inside the vehicle to slow down.<\/p>\n
The vehicle then turned around, parked nearby, and the occupants confronted the employees in a threatening manner.<\/p>\n
During the confrontation, the driver, later identified as 33-year-old Francisco Romero Jr. of Wasco, allegedly brandished a knife in a threatening manner toward the employees.<\/p>\n
The passenger, later identified as 33-year-old Danielle Respicio of Wasco, got out of the vehicle and allegedly sprayed pepper spray at both employees. The suspects then drove away from the scene in the vehicle.<\/p>\n
Through investigation, McFarland Police Department officers determined the suspects lived in Wasco. Both Romero and Respicio were subsequently found and arrested in the 900 block of Oak Avenue in Wasco.<\/p>\n
Both suspects were taken and booked at the Lerdo Justice Facility for:<\/p>\n
Use of a tear gas weaponUse of a caustic chemical with intent to injureAssault on a city worker performing maintenance on a city street<\/p>\n
No serious injuries were reported, according to police.<\/p>\n
This investigation remains ongoing.<\/p>\n
Anyone with additional information is asked to call the McFarland Police Department at 661-792-2121.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 A Wasco couple was arrested after allegedly speeding through an active work zone in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":{"0":"post-163319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","10":"tag-bakersfield-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}