The widow of a retired California Highway Patrol officer just won big \u2014 a Placer County jury awarded her $15.8 million over the death of her husband in a motorcycle crash involving Kings minority owner Phil Oates.<\/p>\n
Miranda Flores\u2019s husband, Patrick Seamus Mulderrig, was 59 when he was killed in the May 2024 crash in Granite Bay.<\/p>\n
Patrick Seamus Mulderrig, 59, died in a May 2024 crash in Granite Bay. Miranda Flores<\/p>\n
Sacramento city councilman Allen Warren, left, and Sacramento Kings investor Phil Oates confer outside the hotel where the NBA owners are meeting regarding the possible relocation of the Sacramento Kings team to Seattle, in New York, Wednesday, April 3, 2013. AP<\/p>\n
\u201cI am so thankful to this jury for understanding and recognizing how remarkable my husband Patrick was and the depth of my loss,\u201d Flores told KCRA 3<\/a> of the verdict. \u201cPatrick impacted our families and my life every day. I hope Phil Oates now fully understands what his actions have cost our families.\u201d<\/p>\n After the verdict, Flores also said that she\u2019s still having difficulties processing the death of her husband.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the California Morning Report newsletter\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe biggest news, opinion and culture shaping California right now.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \u201cNow I feel like just a piece of a person. I wake up and try my best to breathe and pretend like I am living, because I know he would want me to be okay. I didn\u2019t just lose my sweet Patrick that day. I lost the life we were supposed to have. I lost all of our todays \u2014 and every tomorrow that should have been ours,\u201d she told KCRA 3.<\/p>\n Mulderrig had been driving along Douglas Boulevard when Oates turned left with his Cadillac, according to a police report Flores obtained, KCRA3 reported. <\/p>\n Ozzie Smith, left, and Phil Oates attend the Inaugural Phil Oates Celebrity Golf Classic at North Ridge Country Club in Fair Oaks, California, Monday, August 30, 2021. Getty Images<\/p>\n At the time, Oates told police he saw the motorcycle changing lanes as he began pulling onto the roadway from a turn area and accelerated. He then realized the motorcycle was traveling faster than he had anticipated. The two collided shortly afterward.<\/p>\n Oates wasn\u2019t driving under the influence of any drug or alcohol at the time of the crash, according to the police report.<\/p>\n Police referred Oates to the district attorney for possible citation and manslaughter charges at the time of the incident. <\/p>\n At the time, the district attorney, however, did not file a case or cite Oates for the crash.<\/p>\n Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, right, shakes hands with Phil Oates, one of the local investors in the group involved with the purchase of the Sacramento Kings, during a rally in Sacramento, Calif., Friday, May 17, 2013. AP<\/p>\n But the jury still decided to award Flores millions. <\/p>\n \u201cThis has always been a case about accountability and responsibility,\u201d attorney Roger Dreyer of Dreyer Babich Buccola Wood Campora LLP, who represented Flores, said in a statement, KCRA3 reported.<\/p>\n \u201cPatrick was a remarkable husband who loved and lived for his wife and others. The fact that all 12 jurors reached the same conclusion speaks volumes. We deeply appreciate this jury recognizing the extraordinary depth of Miranda\u2019s loss and what Patrick meant to her.\u201d<\/p>\n Dreyer also said the district attorney\u2019s office failed Flores by neither prosecuting nor citing Oates, but emphasized that the civil justice system was still able to hold him accountable.<\/p>\n The California Post reached out to Oates, but he declined to comment.<\/p>\n Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters <\/p>\n California Post News: Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, TikTok<\/a>, X<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, WhatsApp<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t
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