In 1971 J. Standard Baker Quoted " Drivers Towing Trailers  Are Four (4) Times As Unsafe As Those In Cars Alone! 

TBakersfield Police Department
Ryan Kroeker, Sergeant
1601 Truxtun Avenue
Bakersfield, CA 93312

Phone: (661)326-3803
Email: rkroeker@bakersfieldpd.us

BPD recommends charges in detached trailer death

Posted: Oct 11, 2017 02:03 PM PDT

Updated: Oct 11, 2017 02:05 PM PDT

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - The Bakersfield Police Department is recommending charges against a man whose trailer killed one man and severely injured another.

On Aug. 2, Hunter Wainscott, 18 and Michael Evans, 32, both of South Carolina, were on a church mission in Bakersfield when the trailer detached at the intersection of White Lane and Wible Road.

The pair were standing on the corner when the utility trailer crashed into them, killing Evans and severely injuring Wainscott.

BPD Sgt. Ryan Kroeker said investigators have submitted a recommendation of charges to the district attorney.

Sgt. Kroeker said the department will not release the driver's name until a decision is made by the district attorney, who is still reviewing the case. 

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - The Bakersfield Police Department is recommending charges against a man whose trailer killed one man and severely injured another.

On Aug. 2, Hunter Wainscott, 18 and Michael Evans, 32, both of South Carolina, were on a church mission in Bakersfield when the trailer detached at the intersection of White Lane and Wible Road.

The pair were standing on the corner when the utility trailer crashed into them, killing Evans and severely injuring Wainscott.

BPD Sgt. Ryan Kroeker said investigators have submitted a recommendation of charges to the district attorney.

Sgt. Kroeker said the department will not release the driver's name until a decision is made by the district attorney, who is still reviewing the case. 

Questions Must Be Asked:

1. Where were the safety chains?

2. Where was the Hitch Pin?  Was It Used?

3. Where was the Federal Law Mandated Secondary Breaking System?

4.Who Produced the trailer with a "Voluntary Standard"?

5. Why has the driver not been identified?

6. What company owned the trailer?

7. What Insurance Company?

Survivor of horrific White Lane trailer accident speaks out

By: Mary Kate Paquette

Posted: Aug 11, 2017 06:58 PM PDT

Updated: Aug 11, 2017 06:58 PM PDT

marykatepaquette@kget.com

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - Hunter Wainscott and Mike Evans were on a nationwide mission trip that started in Asheville, North Carolina.

They made stops in places like St. Louis and Nashville before heading west.

The men had just left Redding and were on their way to New Mexico when their car broke down on White Lane in Bakersfield.

They dropped the car at a repair shop and were walking to a restaurant to eat when tragedy struck.

"Not even a quarter mile down the road, bam," Wainscott said. "It just went black and all I remember was waking up in the back of a cement trailer with cinder blocks on top of me.I was like I'm not going to make it, that's what was going through my mind. I'm not gonna make it. Like there was a guy holding my head together."

Wainscott did survive, but suffered back and arm injuries.

Evans did not survive."I'm really gonna miss him," Wainscott said. "We literally did everything together, like every single day we did something. We either went to the beach, went out to eat, went and hung out with some friends at the river. We just did everything together and it's just hard that he's gone."
 
Wainscott says Evans was more than his best friend, he was his mentor and the reason he was back at church. 
 
"He was a mentor to everybody. Everybody in town knew him. Everybody knew Mike. he played the keyboard for church. He was the music director and he just made an impact on everybody's life," Wainscott said. 
 
Wainscott had back surgery last week and is going through rehab treatments here in Bakersfield, but his family is working to get him back home to South Carolina.
 
They have set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for medical and travel expenses.

Mom of pedestrian hit by loose trailer: Driver needs to be held accountable

Hunter Wainscott is seen in a photo provided by his family. Wainscott suffered significant injuries, and his friend, Michael Franklin Evans, was killed Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017, at White Lane and Wible Road in Bakersfield, Calif., when they were hit by a trailer that came loose from a pickup.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — 

The mother of a South Carolina man badly injured while walking when a trailer broke free from a pickup said she wants the driver to be held responsible.

Hunter Wainscott, 18, and Michael Franklin Evans, 32, were walking along Wible Road when the trailer containing concrete blocks came loose from a northbound truck.


Both men were hit by the loose trailer, killing Evans and leaving Wainscott with a broken back and dislocated elbow.

"Accident or not, (the truck's driver) knew that he was suppose to have safety chains on that trailer, and he didn't, and now a good man is dead because of it," said Wainscott's mom, Angel Cribb.

RELATED STORY | Pedestrian hit, killed by trailer that comes loose from truck at Wible Road, White Lane


She said her son and Evans were walking to a restaurant while their car was being repaired nearby. Their car had broken down while driving through Bakersfield, she said.

MORE | GoFundMe page for Mike Evans memorial

The trailer continued into the intersection, where it hit a car. That started a chain-reaction crash involving two other vehicles. One of the drivers in the those cars suffered minor injuries.

Police haven't said whether they will recommend charges against the pickup driver.