New details from last year\u2019s fatal police chase in East Oakland revealed that police may have treated Oakland teacher Marvin Boomer\u2019s girlfriend Nina Woodruff, who was also a bystander seriously injured in the crash, as a suspect and failed to give her treatment at the scene.<\/p>\n
Michelle Bernard, an attorney for the family of Marvin Boomer, the Oakland math teacher and bystander who was killed in a horrific crash<\/a> caused by a suspect fleeing authorities last May, as well as his girlfriend Nina Woodruff, intends to file lawsuits against the California Highway Patrol and the Oakland Police Department this week after receiving no response from the city of Oakland over a legal claim she filed last fall, as Oaklandside reports<\/a>. <\/p>\n In last fall\u2019s legal filing, Bernard claimed negligence by the city of Oakland over poor road conditions, including a nearby sinkhole, along with the manner in which Oakland police officers responded after the crash. Bernard says CHP also contributed to the crash, claiming officers should have called off the pursuit.<\/p>\n Bernard said in the legal filing that she\u2019s seeking damages between $10 and $18 million for Woodruff\u2019s pain and suffering, which included a traumatic brain injury, a broken arm and other bones, and post-traumatic stress disorder, with a similar estimate for CHP<\/p>\n \u201cThe City of Oakland and the California Highway Patrol created the danger,\u201d Bernard wrote in the legal claim, per Oaklandside. \u201cThe City of Oakland and the California Highway Patrol are responsible for the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n In the claim, Bernard provided updated information about the crash, including the fact that neighbors had been filing reports with the city for years about a large sinkhole at the intersection where Boomer was killed. Bernard says that the suspect, Eric Hernandez Garcia was driving \u201cclose to 100 miles per hour\u201d that day, and \u201cphysics took control\u201d when he hit the sinkhole, according to Oaklandside.<\/p>\n Oaklandside reports that photo and video evidence of the scene from the legal filing shows that Hernandez Garcia first hit a nearby fire hydrant, shearing it completely off, which struck Boomer\u2019s upper body and also may have hit Woodruff. Hernandez Garcia\u2019s car also appears to have come within inches of striking the couple.<\/p>\n \u201cImpact. Violence. Silence. Then screaming. The sound of metal hitting human bone echoed across the street. Pieces of the fire hydrant sheared off and exploded upward as a geyser of water blasted into the air,\u201d Bernard wrote. <\/p>\n The legal filing claims that Oakland police officers failed to provide Woodruff with medical treatment or support when they arrived at the scene, and they allegedly considered her a suspect, leading her to panic and wander off, bleeding and disoriented, until a nearby resident took her to the hospital, per Oaklandside.<\/p>\n \u201cWitnesses heard officers suggest she might have been in the Infiniti that caused the crash. This led Nina \u2014 concussed, terrified, bleeding, and in shock \u2014 to wander away from the scene instead of receiving medical care,\u201c Bernard wrote. <\/p>\n Additionally, Bernard names CHP in the claim, alleging that officers pursued Hernandez Garcia at unsafe speeds, failed to perform a risk assessment in a residential neighborhood, and missed two chances to detain him safely. As SFist reported last year<\/a>, CHP had previously called off the high-speed chase well before the collision, but per the Oaklandside, troopers continued to track and follow him, which Bernard alleges may have frightened Hernandez Garcia, causing him to continue speeding.<\/p>\n