Caltrans Sued Over I-10 Accident in Baldwin Park

By City News Service

Retired motorcycle racing champion Bruce Penhall and his wife filed a lawsuit against Caltrans and one of its contractors today, alleging safety violations contributed to an alleged drunken-driving crash on the San Bernardino (10) Freeway that killed Penhall's son, who was working on the roadway for a subcontractor.

The lawsuit by Penhall, who once portrayed a California Highway Patrol officer on "CHiPs,'' also names the CHP as a defendant, along with alleged drunken driver Tatsuhiko Sakamoto, who is awaiting trial on gross vehicular manslaughter and other charges.

Caltrans spokesman Patrick Chandler said the agency would not comment on pending litigation. An official with contractor Flatiron Construction Corp. could not be reached for immediate comment.

Sakamoto, 38, allegedly drove a Toyota Rav4 through a construction zone on the westbound freeway at Francisquito Avenue in Baldwin Park around 11:45 p.m. April 4, 2012, hitting Connor Penhall. The 21-year-old Corona man, who was operating a concrete saw for a subcontractor, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sakamoto, who remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail, is charged with one count each of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, DUI causing injury and driving with a .08 percent blood alcohol content causing injury.

He is due back in court June 20 for a pretrial hearing.

According to the Penhalls' lawsuit, Caltrans and Flatiron officials violated established safety procedures when it set up the freeway closure by failing to properly place cones, barricades or signs warning motorists of a detour. It also contends that CHP officers were not properly positioned in the construction zone.

The lawsuit alleges that Sakamoto drove over a single cone at the beginning of the freeway closure area, then drove roughly 3,500 feet in the left lane because barricades "required by the `standard plan' to be placed every 2,000 feet across all lanes and shoulders were not in place to obstruct Sakamoto's path.''

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeks unspecified damages.

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