How DMV allows dangerous drivers to stay on the road

From Robert LewisCalmness

This story was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

Sergio Olmos.

Erwin Wyat’s history behind the wheel is distributed on two pages of a recent lawsuit: police escape. Running from the police again. Performing red light. Causing a traffic collision. Driving without certificate, four times. Dozen tickets for speeding.

Still, the California Department of Motor Vehicles issued him a license in 2019. Wyat immediately received three more speed tickets, court records show. Prosecutors say he accelerated again in 2023 when he lost control and collided with a counter, killing three women. He is now facing charges of murder in Stanisusus County.

DMV routinely allows drivers like those – with horrific stories of dangerous driving, including DUI, crashes and multiple tickets – to continue working on our road sails, an investigation into Calletatters has found. Too often they continue to kill. Many continue to drive even after killing. Some continue to kill again.

We have examined the cases of car killing in California from 2019 to the beginning of 2024 to find out how the state is dealing with dangerous drivers.

Judicial records and driving history reveal a country that deals with people who have access to motor vehicles for work and life that allows deadly drivers to share our roads despite costs. Officials can call a privilege, but they treat it as a right – often fail to take licenses to drivers even after killing someone on the road.

Here are the key assumes from our investigation:

1 DMV misses – or ignores – patterns of reckless behavior on the roads that last for years, failing to stop dangerous drivers before killing.

The state system, which is aimed at cars who collect tickets, is designed to capture clusters with reckless behavior, not long -term models.

The state stops the driver’s license for the accumulation of four points a year, six points in two years or eight points in three years. What does it take to get so many points? Using a mobile phone while driving is zero points. A speeding ticket is a point. The increase in the car is two points.

And while there are laws requiring DMV to suspend the driver’s license for certain crimes, such as DUI, there is no such requirement for many convictions for killing cars.

It often depends on DMV whether to act. This is not routine.

2. Nearly 40% of drivers accused of car murder of 2019 have a valid license, according to DMV Records.

This is about 1000 of the 2600 drivers we received DMV reports, drivers like Joshua Dauchuti.

In July 2020, Daugherty boarded the highway shoulder while driving near Mammoth lakes, overcome on the left and lost control, court documents show. His Toyota Tacoma crossed the lane in a oncoming motion, where the SUV extended it. Dauchurty’s girlfriend, 25-year-old Crystal Kazazark, died.

In August 2009, with a strikingly similar incident, Daugherty moved along the Riverside County Highway when his Ford expedition headed for the shoulder. Witnesses told the police that he had hit the embankment of dirt and went into the air, with the all -terrain vehicle transferred to his roof. A 16-year-old girl riding in the back died.

In both cases, he was convicted of killing cars. DMV suspended his license after his sentence for Kazhaark’s murder. But that was not enough to protect him from the way. Before he could report to prison, two months after the sentence, police caught him driving on a suspended certificate.

DMV reissued license Daugherty in July 2024

3 DMV often does not take action against drivers convicted of killing someone on the road.

State legislation requires the agency to undress the motorists of its driving privileges for three years after a conviction for murder of vehicles. But there is no such requirement for most convictions for a crime of vehicles. It is up to DMV whether to do something.

We have found nearly 200 drivers with a valid license whose DMV recording shows a sentence for car killing, but for which there is no stopping.

This includes truck driver Ramon Pacheko, who made a turn in front of the oncoming motorcycle, killing 29-year-old Dominic Lopez-Tony, who finished his rotations to be a doctor.

The court records show that Pacheko has fallen into trouble behind the wheel before. He was arrested for DUI in 2009, sparked a collision in 2013 and received a ticket in 2016 for a dangerous turn.

Months after San Joaquin prosecutors accused Pacheco of murdering cars, he entered another clash, which he was also considered to be the most visited.

In the end, Pacheco does not compete for a crime for a crime and receive probation. His DMV recording of February 11 shows that his driving privileges have never been stopped; His commercial driver’s license is valid.

As a result of the tragedy, Lopez-Toni’s mother became a supporter of truck safety.

“Road safety and truck safety is not a priority at the moment with our legislators, with our government,” said Nora Lopez. “Changing our thinking, our attitudes, our road culture is not impossible.”

4. DMV has issued licenses to 150 drivers less than a year after killing someone on the road.

Prosecutors say Jaden Mendes accelerated in December 2021 in Santa Clara County when he lost control and caused a crash in which he killed a mother of three young children. A few weeks later, he received a speeding ticket.

Still, DMV issued him his current driver’s license on January 27, 2022 – 49 days after the fatal crash. Mendes’s murder case is still open and his license is still cited as valid.

5. Nearly 400 of the drivers accused of killing someone received a ticket or were in another clash – or both – after their fatal crashS

This is about 15% of the drivers we received the DMV reports. Although reports do not show whether the driver was guilty of a crash, records suggest that many drivers continue to drive dangerously, even after killing someone on the road.

A commercial driver brought his half-camera on the wrong side of the road to oncoming traffic, killing a motorcyclist in Kern County in 2021. Less than a year later, he still had a valid license when he turned into a slow movement of traffic, hitting four vehicles and killing a woman in Fresh. Another man, sentenced to nine years in prison for killing two women while driving drunk, received his DMV privileges after being released, just to drive high on Met in Riverside and weave his head into another car, killing a woman.

6. Hundreds of drivers have car murder or related sentences that do not appear in DMV records.

The obvious mistake means that some drivers who should have stopped their driving privileges instead of appearing in DMV records as a valid license.

Between March 2017 and March 2022, Trevor Cook received two quotes to release red lights, received two tickets and was considered responsible for two clashes, including one in which someone was injured, court records show.

Cook still had a valid license on April 14, 2022, a month after his last speed ticket when he blown up through a Yolo County Sign by more than 100 miles / h, killing Prajal Bista as he went through the intersection and a movie with his wife, according to the details of the crash, that prosecutors were involved in the disaster. Bista managed the speed limit and on the road so that it could work 30 minutes earlier.

On March 28, 2024, Cook did not plead for no competition for car killing.

The sentence of the murder – like hundreds of others we found – is not indicated in the drive of the Cook driver. DMV has released its Cook its current driver’s license just a month after the sentence, according to the agency records. Less than two weeks later, he received a ticket for disobedience to the road signal.

“It is stunning for me that eight months later, his license is still shown as a valid and the sentence for the murder of someone during driving is not reflected in his driver’s document,” said Melinda Ayelo, chief deputy prosecutor in Yolo County. “You killed someone. I think there may be some consequences for the license.”

7. DMV denied our request to discuss our discoveries with director Steve Gordon.

Instead, Gordon issued a brief statement: “The modernization of our systems, including the launch of the driver’s safety portal, reflects our constant commitment to raising accountability and transparency, while constantly refining our processes to ensure that the roads in California are more faded for all.”

Chris Orick, a DMV spokesman, said the agency follows the law when licensed. “We use our authority as a mandate and, if necessary,” he said.

Orick said DMV could not comment on individual drivers. But he and the agency’s employees explained what was happening after a deadly clash, a process that is separated from any legally required suspension after sentence.

When the law enforcement agencies report a fatal collapse, the agency’s drivers’ safety branch marks all drivers who may be guilty. It is then considered in the clash and decides whether the agency should stop the privileges of driving these motorists. If the driver disputes the action, there is a hearing that may include testimony to witnesses. The suspensions are open. Drivers must request their license back, and agency employees decide whether the stopping should be completed or continued. These discretionary suspensions usually last about a year.

And while officials said DMV could continue to stop if they believe the driver is a danger, Orick said he should allow drivers to regain his license. He said that there is no process “permanently canceling a license” in the state.

This is the first story in a series on how California allows dangerous drivers to stay on the road. Sign up for our license to kill a newsletter To be notified when the next story comes out and to get more information behind the scenes from our reporting.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.