Bakersfield, CA, November 8 – A pedestrian was killed on Sunday, November 1, after being struck by a vehicle while crossing the street at an intersection in Bakersfield, according to police. The Kern County Coroner’s Office has since identified him as 78-year-old Ronny Carl Delouth. The Bakersfield Police Department says the collision remains under investigation as authorities continue working to determine exactly how it happened.
Bakersfield Pedestrian Killed in Crosswalk Crash on California Avenue
The crash happened at around 6:32 p.m. on November 1, near the intersection of California Avenue and Business Center Drive, according to Bakersfield police. Delouth was in a marked crosswalk, crossing toward the west side of California Avenue, when a southbound Toyota Prius traveling down the avenue struck him. Delouth did not survive the crash and was pronounced dead where he was found.
The driver of the Prius stayed at the scene following the crash and cooperated fully with responding officers, remaining available to answer questions from investigators, according to Bakersfield police. The Bakersfield Police Department has taken over the investigation and has not released the driver’s identity or additional details about the vehicle involved.
As of this report, the cause of the collision remains unconfirmed, and the Bakersfield Police Department has not said when its investigation might be completed. No additional information about the crash, including how or why it occurred, has been made public. Officials have not indicated whether more details will be released as the case progresses.
What California law requires of drivers around pedestrians
Vehicle Code section 21950 requires a driver to yield the right of way to a pedestrian crossing within any marked crosswalk, or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection. Subdivision (b) is the one people misread: a pedestrian may walk or run, and doing either does not forfeit the right of way.
Subdivision (c) puts a separate duty on the driver. A driver approaching a pedestrian in any crosswalk must exercise all due care and reduce the speed of the vehicle. That duty applies whether or not the pedestrian had the right of way, and subdivision (d) preserves it: nothing in the section relieves a driver of the duty to use due care for the safety of any pedestrian in the roadway.
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.
