California Highway Patrol officers are investigating whether a Pitchess Detention Center deputy was responsible for the head-on crash that ended his life, according to court records obtained by The Signal.
Deputy Daniel Valencia Chavira died in a head-on collision at 3:20 p.m. May 19 while traveling north on San Francisquito Canyon Road.
Chavira had just finished a double shift at Pitchess Detention Center and then spoke to his sister on the phone for about seven minutes before he told her he had to go take care of a personal matter, according to a statement she gave to investigators in court records.
She believes she was the last person to speak with him, she said.
Chavira then headed north on the winding, well-traveled back road to Palmdale, where he lived and was set to be transferred in a matter of days, according to a source in the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department who spoke about the situation on condition of anonymity.
About 20 minutes later, a three-vehicle head-on crash near the intersection of Dry Gulch Road killed Chavira and left three others injured.
A dangerous drive
Immediately after the incident, multiple concerns about the crash emerged.
San Francisquito Canyon Road is not a road that most would consider an easy-to-navigate path.
The circuitous route through the canyon takes travelers directly past the site of the Santa Clarita Valley’s deadliest tragedy — the site of the St. Francis Dam disaster, which killed more than 430 people after the dam failed in 1928.
Over the past 12 years, the road has witnessed more than its own share of sadness: There have been at least 18 deaths on that stretch of road since 2013. Speed has been the predominant factor on that road, where data indicates head-on collisions are the most common type of incident, according to a Caltrans study.
The study was part of an ongoing, yearslong effort by L.A. County to improve the road’s safety, but for now it remains with stretches that have dotted lines where passing is allowed, and other stretches, closer to where Chavira died, where it’s not considered safe to do so.
On top of winding routes and precipitous cliffs on both sides, there are many blind turns and spots where visibility is less than ideal, especially if a car is speeding.
The initial crash report from the CHP officers who investigated the scene did not mention whether speed was a factor.
Long hours
A Sheriff’s Department official recently discussed at a local meeting how deputies at North County Correctional Facility, on the Pitchess campus, have been working at least 10 overtime shifts per month to compensate for agencywide staffing shortages.
At the end of his May 19 shift, the 21-year-old Chavira had just finished 16 hours on the job, a fact that was mentioned numerous times in subsequent reports. The deputy graduated from his academy class less than eight months ago and had spent six months working in custody at Pitchess.
Speculation and a narrative began to circulate from sources within the department, citing the initial reports from the scene and personnel records: Chavira had fallen asleep at the wheel after working from 10 p.m. the night before until 2 p.m. the day of his crash. It was speculated that he drifted into oncoming traffic, causing the crash.
News reports and off-the-record sources mentioned he must have been exhausted from working 56 of the last 88 possible hours of his life, according to a KCAL report.
The tragedy happened during a particularly difficult stretch for the Sheriff’s Department in terms of morale. The day before Chavira’s crash, Nick Wilson, a spokesman for a deputy union, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Professional Association, announced on his Instagram page that a 13th deputy had just committed suicide in the past 17 months. “That is not just a tragic number, that should be an alarm bell,” Wilson said in the video he posted.
Two days later, Wilson told reporters Chavira’s tragic death was indicative of a major problem facing deputies: There’s no time for them to rest and regroup between shifts.
The Chavira family has several members in the department — including Deputy Rene Valencia-Chavira, who works at the Lancaster Station; Rene’s wife, Deputy Crystal Valencia-Chavira, who works at San Fernando Superior Court; and his sister Detective Nancy Alcaraz and her husband, Deputy Martin Alcaraz, who both work at the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station.
Nicole Nishida, director of communications for LASD, did not know whether a complaint had been filed with the department as of this story’s publication. There was no court record of a lawsuit available as of this story’s publication.
However, recent court records obtained by The Signal shed new light on the narrative and could shift the blame and liability for the crash.
Statement on the scene
CHP Officer Josh DeMasters mentions Chavira’s recent double-shift at Pitchess near the top of his narrative in explaining what happened in a request to the court to search for more evidence — as part of a potential vehicular manslaughter investigation.
There were three parties involved in the crash, according to DeMasters’ report: a blue 2006 Volkswagen Beetle, which was behind Chavira; Chavira’s 2022 black Honda Accord; and a 2012 black Nissan Frontier that collided with Chavira’s Accord.
The driver of the Frontier sustained major injuries, and “had no recollection of the incident due to her extent of injuries, and has since retained legal counsel,” according to a search warrant request. She had not made a statement as of the May 28 warrant.
A spokesman for the CHP’s Newhall-area Office did not respond to a request for comment Friday on whether any arrests have been made.
The driver of the Beetle has given the only statement to date:
“He stated while stopped behind the Honda at Stator Lane, at a stop sign, the Honda remained there for approximately one minute before Blanchard tapped on his horn. He stated he observed Deputy Chavira show signs of fatigue, by rubbing his face with his hands, (the driver) related the Honda turned northbound on San Francisquito Canyon Road and was weaving back and forth before weaving into southbound lanes, directly into the path of the Nissan Frontier.”
The result was a head-on collision that spun the Honda in a counter-clockwise direction, and subsequently crashed into the Beatle, spinning Chavira’s Honda and leaving it facing an easterly direction, according to DeMasters’ report.
Outstanding witnesses
“CHP has no other witnesses of the actual crash, to date. However, while on scene, it was made known that three additional witnesses observed the driving mannerisms of the Honda and Nissan prior to the crash,” according to DeMasters’ investigation.
One witness was driving southbound on San Francisquito Canyon Road, north of the Los Angeles County Fire Camp, and said they saw the Nissan approach from his rear and attempt to pass him, according to the statement in court records.
Upon approaching the Los Angeles County Fire Camp, the Nissan passed him at a high rate of speed, in an aggressive manner while crossing over double yellow lines, according to the statement. The witness lost sight of the drive near A Place to Shoot, a nearby shooting range.
He indicated when passing the crash site that it was the driver he’d seen pass him, per his statement in DeMasters’ report.
The report mentioned another witness was driving northbound on San Francisquito Canyon Road, approaching Quail Trail.
She stated north of that location, there is a sharp blind right turn, and she saw a Volkswagen Beetle, approximately two cars in front of her, in the northbound lane, cross over the solid double-yellow lines at the blind corner, and pass slower-moving cars before transitioning back into the northbound lane, according to DeMasters’ request to a judge to search for evidence. The witness stated the Volkswagen passed “at least one, possibly two cars,” before she lost sight of it.
About 15 seconds later, she came upon the crash, according to her statement in DeMasters’ report.
However, the person who initially called 911 offered a perspective that shed new light on the other witnesses, albeit through hearsay.
The 911 caller relayed to investigators that while he was on the scene right after the crash, the unidentified witness gave the caller an eyewitness statement that completely contradicted the narrative that Chavira had fallen asleep and identified the deputy as a potential victim in the crash, according to DeMasters’ report.
DeMasters wrote that the witness was described as a possible Hispanic or Filipino man, approximately 5 feet, 10 inches tall, wearing a baseball hat and blue polo work shirt. He was identified as someone CHP officers wanted to speak to for a statement, but had not yet been found as of the end of May, according to court records.
All of this was communicated to a judge in a May request from DeMasters to search the electronic systems of the vehicles involved in the crash, which can tell investigators everything from when the brakes were applied to whether a Bluetooth device was connected and when.
“Preliminary investigation revealed the likely cause of the crash may have been fatigue,” DeMasters wrote to Judge Thomas Griego. “However, in light of new allegations made by witnesses, there may be other factors at play.”
