Bakersfield, CA, September 10 – Three Taft residents died after a head-on crash on Copus Road, west of Old River Road, according to the Kern County Coroner’s Office, which released their identities. The California Highway Patrol reported that a 2003 Nissan Sentra traveling eastbound drifted into westbound lanes for reasons that have not been determined and collided head-on with a 2005 Honda Odyssey. The driver of the Nissan and two passengers died in the crash.
Bakersfield Crash Kills Three Taft Men, Coroner Releases Names
The crash happened at about 5:22 a.m. on August 28. The coroner’s office identified those killed as Jacobo Yesca Paz, 43, who was driving the Nissan, and his passengers, Pablo Galindo Quiahua, 54, and Raul Velasco Torres, 35. All three lived in Taft. The Honda Odyssey was being driven by a 60-year-old Bakersfield man, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Two other passengers in the Nissan Sentra and both occupants of the Honda Odyssey were also hurt in the crash. The California Highway Patrol said their injuries ranged from minor to moderate. None of the four has been publicly identified. The coroner’s office has released the names only of the three men who died in the collision.
The California Highway Patrol has not said why the Nissan left its lane before the crash, or whether alcohol or drugs played a role. No citations or arrests connected to the crash have been reported. The agency’s investigation into the collision remains ongoing, and no additional findings have been released.
What the at-fault driver is required to carry, and why it often is not enough
Vehicle Code section 16056 sets California’s minimum liability limits, and they changed recently. For a policy issued or renewed on or after 1 January 2025, the minimum is $30,000 for injury to or death of one person, $60,000 where two or more people are hurt, and $15,000 for property damage. Policies written before that date may still carry the older minimum of $15,000, $30,000 and $5,000.
Those are floors, not typical limits, and a single hospital admission can exhaust the lower figure before any other loss is counted. Where the at-fault driver carries the minimum, the uninsured and underinsured motorist cover on the injured person’s own policy is often the part that matters most, and it is worth checking early rather than after the other insurer has made an offer.
The deadline that applies to a claim like this one
Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 gives two years for an action for injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another. The same two years covers an injury claim and a death claim; there is no separate, shorter period because someone died.
Who is entitled to bring a claim when someone is killed
Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 decides who may bring a wrongful death action. The first group is the surviving spouse, domestic partner, children and the issue of deceased children, or, where there is no surviving issue, whoever would take the estate by intestate succession.
A second group may bring the action only if they were financially dependent on the person who died: a putative spouse and their children, stepchildren, parents, and the legal guardians of the person who died where the parents are deceased. Parents are in that second group, which is the part families are most often surprised by, because dependency has to be shown rather than assumed.
Talking to someone about it
Culver Legal represents people injured in collisions across California. A conversation about what happened costs nothing, and we work on a contingency fee, which means there is no fee unless we win. If we do not win, we do not pass the case costs on to you either.
Nothing on this page is legal advice about any particular case, and the facts of a reported collision often change as the investigation continues.
