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Name Not Disclosed

Age :

Gender : Male

Race : Unknown

Date : 08/18/2025

Location : Pine Street and Third Avenue

City : Hesperia

County : San Bernardino

State : California

Agency : San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Vehicle

Event : Driver killed by police chase crash

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/18/2025, shortly after 3:00 a.m., an unidentified person was killed when a 2007 Chevrolet Suburban being pursued by San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies crashed and overturned at Pine Street and Third Avenue in Hesperia. Two other people fled from the Suburban following the crash.
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The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said deputies initially attempted to stop the Suburban for “several traffic violations.” The department did not specify which traffic violations prompted the attempted stop in the available account. The driver continued driving away and deputies initiated a pursuit.
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The pursuit continued onto surface streets in Hesperia. At Pine Street and Third Avenue, the Suburban collided with a Ford F-150 that was traveling through the intersection. The people in the F-150 told Victor Valley News Group that police vehicles with emergency lights and sirens were immediately behind the Suburban.
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After striking the F-150, the Suburban overturned and crashed into at least three parked vehicles before coming to rest upside down. Several of the parked vehicles sustained substantial damage.
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One person in the Suburban was pronounced dead at the scene. Two other people climbed from the wrecked vehicle and fled on foot. The Sheriff’s Department initially said investigators had not yet determined whether the person who died had been driving the Suburban. Because the available evidence does not establish that the decedent was the driver, the death should be treated as a passenger pursuit death unless subsequent coroner or investigative records establish otherwise.
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The F-150 contained a male driver and female passenger who was traveling with a dog. The driver declined medical treatment. The passenger suffered minor injuries and was transported by ambulance to a hospital.
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The circumstances are notable because the pursuit was initiated over traffic violations rather than a reported violent felony, while the resulting pursuit produced a fatality, an injury to an uninvolved motorist, a rollover and collisions involving multiple parked vehicles.
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The fatal crash occurred only five months after another San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department pursuit in the same Victor Valley area resulted in the death of one of the department’s own deputies. On 03/17/2025, deputies in Victorville pursued a reported stolen vehicle after attempting a traffic stop near Mojave Drive and Amargosa Road. During that pursuit, Deputy Hector Cuevas Jr. collided with another motorist at Seneca and El Evado roads and then struck a utility pole. The impact split the patrol vehicle apart and killed Cuevas. The uninvolved motorist was injured.
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That March death generated public questions about pursuit practices. The crash demonstrated that the risks associated with the department’s pursuits were not limited to people in pursued vehicles: one of its own deputies was killed and an uninvolved motorist was injured during a pursuit only months before the Hesperia crash.
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The department’s pursuit history also includes the extraordinary 09/27/2022 Hesperia pursuit involving 15-year-old Savannah Graziano. After a lengthy pursuit and gun battle on Interstate 15, Savannah exited her father’s vehicle and moved toward deputies. Later-released video showed a deputy directing her toward officers while other deputies opened fire and killed her. The California Department of Justice subsequently conducted an independent investigation.
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The state investigation into the Graziano shooting ultimately declined criminal charges against the deputies but identified significant operational issues. The California Attorney General’s review recommended additional training and specifically addressed body-worn and dashboard cameras. The Sheriff’s Department subsequently implemented body-worn and dash-mounted cameras.
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San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department maintains a formal written vehicle-pursuit policy, identified in public-records material as Department Policy 3.166. The department provided that policy in response to a California Public Records Act request concerning its pursuit rules.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
The San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy or deputies who initiated and participated in the 08/18/2025 Hesperia pursuit have not been publicly identified.
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The department itself had experienced another catastrophic pursuit only five months earlier, when Deputy Hector Cuevas Jr. was killed while pursuing a reported stolen vehicle in Victorville. His patrol vehicle collided with an uninvolved motorist before striking a pole.
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The agency also came under substantial scrutiny after deputies killed 15-year-old Savannah Graziano at the conclusion of a 2022 pursuit in Hesperia. Video released later showed Savannah moving toward deputies after an officer instructed her to come toward him when other deputies shot her. The California Department of Justice investigation resulted in recommendations concerning tactical coordination, training and police-camera practices.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.vvng.com/one-dead-two-flee-after-pursuit-ends-in-rollover-crash-in-hesperia/
https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/san-bernardino-county-deputy-deadly-pursuit-crash-victorville/
https://www.yahoo.com/news/sheriffs-patrol-car-involved-crash-191338109.html
https://kesq.com/news/2025/03/19/suspect-in-pursuit-that-killed-deputy-in-san-bernardino-county-pleads-not-guilty-to-murder-charge/
https://wp.sbcounty.gov/sheriff/frank-bland-memorial/
https://www.muckrock.com/foi/san-bernardino-county-3060/vehicular-pursuit-policy-san-bernardino-county-sheriff-149610/
https://apnews.com/article/237071a4ff1e18610864b3854a415483
https://apnews.com/article/876b9603ebd30fd7e839597723b706cc