{"id":456839,"date":"2026-09-08T03:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T03:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/456839\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T03:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T03:50:11","slug":"controversy-brews-after-pedestrian-killed-during-bakersfield-police-chase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/456839\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversy brews after pedestrian killed during Bakersfield police chase"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) &#8212; At 11:59 p.m. on Labor Day, the deadliest season on Kern County roadways comes to an end &#8212; an end which was highlighted by dramatic and horrifying crashes on local roads just this week alone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Bakersfield police officers <a data-ylk=\"slk:deployed spike strips across southbound Airport Drive;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kget.com\/news\/crime-watch\/bystander-killed-during-high-speed-pursuit-in-bakersfield-2-suspects-taken-into-custody\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">deployed spike strips across southbound Airport Drive<\/a>. The suspect vehicle approached at high speed, and tried veering away to avoid them, sliding into the right curb, then slamming into a bus stop bench where a pedestrian sat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The pedestrian was declared dead on scene. The car then caught on fire.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The two suspects in the car fled on foot, but were quickly apprehended by authorities and booked into Lerdo on charges of gun possession, gang-related activity &#8212; and in this case, second&#8211;degree murder.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In a separate incident, a woman was <a data-ylk=\"slk:struck and killed on South Union Avenue Sunday night;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kget.com\/news\/crime-watch\/man-arrested-after-deadly-hit-and-run-in-east-bakersfield-police\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">struck and killed on South Union Avenue Sunday night<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Another man was struck and killed on Fairfax Road early Saturday morning &#8212; a pair of shoes found nearly a block away from where the body came to rest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">However, it is the footage of an innocent bystander being killed during a police chase that is stirring controversy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">When posted to social media, one user commented on this video saying &#8220;BPD is definitely at fault for this!!!!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Another saying, &#8220;The officers were doing their job. While placement of the road spike strips can certainly be reviewed, we can&#8217;t ignore the reckless behavior that led to this situation in the first place\u2026&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Bakersfield Police Policy Manual is clear on the use of spike strips in a pursuit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">And get this &#8212; Policy 308.9.1 reads &#8220;Before deploying a tire deflation device, officers should consider factors such as: Speed of the fleeing vehicle &#8211; Traveling at high speeds increases the risk the suspect will lose control of the vehicle after driving over or swerving to avoid a tire deflation device.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">17 News tried getting further details from BPD, but were unable to during the Labor Day weekend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<a data-ylk=\"slk:For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KGET 17 News.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kget.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KGET 17 News.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) &#8212; At 11:59 p.m. on Labor Day, the deadliest season on Kern County roadways comes&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[177148,151,153,152,1995,328,177728,180258,120479,180257],"class_list":["post-456839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-177148","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-inc","tag-kget","tag-kget-17-news","tag-lerdo","tag-nexstar-media","tag-the-bakersfield-police-policy-manual"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456839","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=456839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}