Bakersfield, California – A tragic hit-and-run accident in Bakersfield claimed the lives of two brothers who were riding a minibike near Skyline Avenue.
“I don’t remember anything… just the police,” shared Kevin Gonzalez, who was a passenger while his brother Jacob Gonzalez, 15, was riding a minibike he had assembled himself. Just half a mile from their aunt’s house, the fatal collision with a Jeep occurred.
Both teenagers were hanging out at their aunt Gabriela Garcia’s house, scavenging parts from her lawnmower to fix the minibike. “He and I used to work on them,” recalled Gonzalez. “We did a lot of stuff, like mechanics do. We fixed them. We took the motors out, did a lot of stuff to the bikes. We painted them, sanded them.“
Every time they visited, Garcia would ask them to go back home. Her deepest fear materialized when she received a call from the mother of her kids’ friend after seeing a video of the accident on social media.
The California Highway Patrol reported that the teenagers were traveling south on River Boulevard while the Jeep driver was heading north and then turned left onto Skyline Avenue.
Garcia claims that as soon as she saw the police lights, she knew they were her nephews. Jacob’s brothers and cousins expressed their decision never to ride minibikes again.
The California Highway Patrol reminds everyone that these bikes are not street-legal and should only be used on private property.
