OAKLAND — The California Highway Patrol this week released aerial footage of the high-speed chase that ended in the death of a beloved Castlemont High School teacher who had been out for an evening walk with his girlfriend.
The agency’s footage offers a new window into the May 28 crash, which cast fresh scrutiny on the practice of law enforcement officers chasing motorists through Oakland’s city streets. The video, produced by CHP’s Community Outreach and Marketing Section, included a play-by-play compilation of footage from a highway patrol plane that monitored the chase from above, as well as dash-camera footage from officers’ cruisers and body-worn camera videos.
Castlemont High School educator Marvin Boomer died in the ordeal. He had been on an evening stroll with his girlfriend when the motorist officers had been pursuing barreled through the intersection of East 21st Street and 12th Avenue in Oakland, hitting a fire hydrant that flew into Boomer. The East Oakland educator’s girlfriend, who was next to him, was hospitalized with multiple injuries.
“The loss of Dr. Boomer is devastating, and we mourn alongside the community,” Assistant Chief Shawna Pacheco said in the video, which she narrated. She offered her condolences to the family of Boomer — who had earned a doctorate degree in recent years — while expressing “our hopes for a full recovery” to the other people injured in the encounter.
The newly released footage begins at about 7:25 p.m. on May 28, when a California Highway Patrol plane flying over Oakland received notice that a license plate reader had spotted a vehicle wanted in a previous “evading case” involving Alameda County sheriff’s deputies. Five minutes later, the vehicle sped away as highway patrol officers tried to pull it over — sparking an on-and-off chase across the city, according to Pacheco’s narration.
The vehicle appeared to reach “dangerously high speeds” of nearly 100 mph, even after officers called off their pursuit, Pacheco said.
At 7:43 pm., officers tried to arrest the motorist after he parked on the 1800 block of Fifth Avenue, near Lake Merritt, and got out of the car. He managed to escape, the agency said.
Less than a minute later, the aerial footage showed the vehicle hitting a minivan at East 21st Street and Park Boulevard, before speeding away. CHP officers started chasing the motorist again, yet “quickly” lost sight of him and called off the pursuit — leaving it to CHP’s overhead plane to keep an eye on the fleeing car, according to Pacheco’s narration.
About 20 seconds later, the fleeing vehicle lost control at the intersection of East 21st Street and 12th Avenue and slammed into the fire hydrant, the footage showed. The driver got out and ran away, but was tackled by officers about a block away.
Eric Scott Hernandez-Garcia, 18, was later charged with vehicular manslaughter and several other felonies, including evading police. He remained held Wednesday without bail at the Santa Rita Jail.
