Video shows crash with deputy that left child dead, mother critically injured
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STOCKTON, CA (KTXL) — A Stockton mother continued to fight for her life Monday after her 1-year-old son was killed in a crash involving a San Joaquin County sheriff’s deputy.
He was only 13 months old and only beginning to walk, make memories and live his life. On Saturday, Kevin Hart III’s family was left shattered after the car that he was in was hit by a San Joaquin County sheriff’s deputy’s patrol vehicle.
On Monday, Hart’s paternal grandfather said the boy’s mother, Kalesha Johnson, was still in critical condition at San Joaquin General Hospital. He said her injuries are so bad she’s unrecognizable.
“We gotta all go through this. It’s sad, just sad,” said Kevin Hart Sr. “This is the first time I came up here to see her today. It’s hard for me. I went in there and I just turned around real fast, I couldn’t take it.”
FOX40 obtained home surveillance footage of the crash. The video shows Johnson’s car slowing down with the blinkers on. Moments later, investigators with the California Highway Patrol say Deputy Kengie Yang rear-ended her.
“She put on her flashes or something or pulled over for some reason,” Hart Sr. said. “He didn’t slow down none, just bam.”
Sheriff Patrick Withrow said since the investigation is open, he has limited knowledge of what happened.
“I don’t even know if he’d been dispatched to a call or if he was just heading out to his routine patrol, I do not know,” Withrow said.
Investigators say the crash forced both vehicles down the embankment. Good Samaritans performed CPR on Johnson while the deputy tried to save the little boy.
“Protect lives and help people and when something like this, an accident like this, happens it is emotionally devastating,” Withrow told FOX40.
Sheriff Withrow said Yang has been with his office for about two years. Prior to that, online records show Yang was with the Sacramento Police Department.
“What happened? I just want to know what happened. Why he didn’t see her,” Hart Sr. said.
The sheriff told FOX40 he will not speak to the deputy because of the ongoing investigation. He did add the deputy is on paid suspension, which is protocol.
The CHP’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team arrived at the scene to assist in the investigation. Alcohol or drugs are not believed to be factors in the collisio
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