BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 A driver died after allegedly leading CHP on a high-speed pursuit that ended with the vehicle, a Land Rover, landing inside Lake Isabella and becoming fully submerged Saturday night. The driver and vehicle were recovered the following day.<\/p>\n
The California Highway Patrol said on Saturday, May 23, 2026, at around 6:16 p.m., a CHP Bakersfield Area unit working within the Kern Valley area saw a traffic violation involving a white 2018 Land Rover and tried to initiate an enforcement stop near Scodie Avenue and Dunwood Street.<\/p>\n
According to CHP, the driver of the white Land Rover failed to yield, and a pursuit ensued onto southbound Sierra Way.<\/p>\n
CHP said a preliminary investigation found that the CHP unit continued to pursue the Land Rover on southbound Sierra Way. As the vehicle approached a curve in the roadway near Stine Cove at a high rate of speed, the driver of the Land Rover failed to safely negotiate the curve, according to CHP.<\/p>\n
CHP said at around 6:21 p.m., the Land Rover left the roadway, traveled airborne over a dirt embankment, and entered Lake Isabella. As a result of the crash, the Land Rover became completely submerged, and the driver did not emerge.<\/p>\n
Emergency personnel responded and initiated a search and rescue operation. On Sunday, May 24, 2026, at around 2:51 a.m., the Land Rover was recovered from the lake. The sole occupant\/driver was found inside the vehicle and had sustained fatal injuries.<\/p>\n
CHP said at this time, it is unknown whether alcohol and\/or drugs were factors in this crash.<\/p>\n
Anyone with information regarding this crash is asked to call CHP Bakersfield at 661-396-6600.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 A driver died after allegedly leading CHP on a high-speed pursuit that ended with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-331768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331768","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=331768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}