Search fatalities

Jessica Bingaman

Age : 43

Gender : Female

Race : White

Date : 05/13/2021

Location : Goshen Avenue and Demaree Street

City : Visalia

County : Tulare

State : California

Agency : Visalia Police Department, Tulare County Sheriff’s Office

Officer(s) :Maxwell Schroeder; Officer Zeiden

Cause of Death : Vehicle

Event : Bystander killed by police chase crash

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

.
REASON FOR CHASE: Stolen vehicle
.
NARRATIVE:
On 05/07/2019, Jessica “Jessie” Bingaman, 41, was working as a professional dog walker and trainer and was transporting six dogs for their regular “pack walk” in her Ford Escape. Bingaman owned The Pawtenders, a Long Beach dog-walking, training and pet-care business, and was the mother of a 10-year-old daughter. She had picked up six dogs identified in later court records as Scout, Maggie Moo, Indy, Toots, Sasha and Bell.
.
At approximately 10:30 a.m., Long Beach Police Officer Maxwell Schroeder was dispatched after an automated license plate reader detected a stolen white Nissan van near 937 East 2nd Street. Schroeder located the unoccupied van and, rather than immediately recovering it, surveilled it for approximately an hour in an effort to apprehend whoever returned to it. Javier Olivarez Jr. subsequently entered the van and drove away. Schroeder followed him.
.
Schroeder testified that after the van accelerated to approximately 20 mph above the speed limit, he activated his emergency lights and siren. Olivarez continued driving, beginning the pursuit. The van failed to stop at three stop signs and accelerated to more than 65 mph through a residential area where the speed limit was 25 mph. Prosecutors later presented evidence that Olivarez reached approximately 68 to 70 mph.
.
Bingaman had stopped at the stop sign on Temple Avenue and was proceeding through the intersection at East 3rd Street when Olivarez entered the intersection without stopping and broadsided her Ford Escape at high speed. The collision was so violent that Bingaman's driver's seat was pushed toward the center console and a wheel and axle were torn from the vehicle and thrown across the street into a wall. The wreckage also struck and damaged several parked vehicles. Witnesses compared the sound of the collision to an explosion.
.
Bingaman sustained catastrophic injuries, including fractured ribs and pelvis, collapsed lungs, a torn liver with internal bleeding and a skull hemorrhage. Firefighters used rescue equipment to free her from the wreckage. She was transported to a hospital and died from blunt torso trauma caused by the collision.
.
Four of the six dogs in Bingaman's vehicle died at the scene. Long Beach Police Detective Chad Manis removed the two surviving dogs, Sasha and Bell, and transported them for emergency veterinary treatment. Sasha had severe internal bleeding and no air in her lungs and could not be resuscitated. Bell survived with lacerations requiring sutures. Five dogs therefore died in the crash and one survived.
.
Officer Schroeder and another Long Beach officer identified in the later appellate record only as Officer Zeiden pulled Olivarez from the van after the crash. Olivarez suffered minor injuries. Police recovered methamphetamine and glass pipes from the van. Testing later showed 1,192 nanograms per milliliter of methamphetamine and 207 nanograms per milliliter of amphetamine in his blood.
.
Bingaman's death generated immediate criticism of the decision to conduct a high-speed pursuit of a stolen vehicle through a residential neighborhood. More than 100 people attended a candlelight vigil at the crash site, bringing flowers, candles and dogs. Neighbors publicly questioned why police were pursuing a stolen vehicle at approximately 60 to 70 mph through residential streets. Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna personally apologized to Bingaman's mother at the vigil.
.
In November 2019, Bingaman's mother, DonAnn Lawson, filed a wrongful-death claim against the City of Long Beach on behalf of Bingaman's 11-year-old daughter. The claim alleged that Long Beach police shared responsibility for the death and specifically argued that police knew Olivarez from his extensive previous contacts with law enforcement but nevertheless pursued him. Police said Olivarez had previously been arrested approximately 20 times. The department disclosed that an Internal Affairs investigation was underway examining officers' decisions and tactics during the pursuit.
.
Friends and community members raised more than $40,000 after Bingaman's death to establish a college fund for her daughter and a pet-rescue fund in Bingaman's memory. Her death also became part of local advocacy demanding restrictions on Long Beach police pursuits of people wanted for nonviolent offenses.
.
Olivarez's criminal prosecution continued for four years. At his May 2023 trial, Officer Schroeder testified about his surveillance of the stolen van and his decision to initiate the pursuit. Prosecutors argued that Olivarez knowingly drove at extreme speed through residential streets and stop signs while impaired by methamphetamine. A jury convicted him of second-degree murder, fleeing a pursuing peace officer causing death, driving or taking a vehicle without consent, and six counts of animal cruelty.
.
On 10/18/2023, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Richard Goul sentenced Olivarez to an aggregate term of 49 years to life in state prison. The sentence included 30 years to life for Bingaman's second-degree murder, additional consecutive terms for the stolen vehicle and animal-cruelty convictions, and a five-year enhancement for a prior serious felony. Olivarez apologized to Bingaman's family during sentencing and attributed his actions to drug use.
.
Olivarez appealed his convictions, arguing in part that jurors should have received instructions on gross vehicular manslaughter offenses and challenging portions of the animal-cruelty sentences. On 11/12/2025, the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, affirmed the judgment, leaving his convictions and sentence intact.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Maxwell Schroeder was the Long Beach Police Department officer who surveilled the stolen van, followed Olivarez and initiated the pursuit. Schroeder joined the department in 2016. In 2021, LBPD reassigned and then suspended him after evidence surfaced connecting him to racist, antisemitic and other prejudiced electronic messages associated with the wider Torrance Police Department racist-text scandal. LBPD also announced that it was reviewing Schroeder's previous use-of-force incidents and arrest reports.
.
The investigation ultimately resulted in Schroeder's termination from the Long Beach Police Department on 02/24/2022.
.
The second officer identified in the appellate decision is Officer Zeiden, who helped Schroeder remove Olivarez from the wrecked van and subsequently searched him. The appellate record does not provide Zeiden's first name.
.
TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES: 1 fatality, 5 animal fatalities

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.longbeach.gov/police/archive-news-releases/2019/pursuit-with-traffic-fatality---3rd-street-and-temple-avenue/
https://lbpost.com/news/crime/dogs-killed-police-pursuit-temple-3rd/
https://lbpost.com/news/crime/when-should-police-pursue-woman-5-dogs-are-just-the-latest-killed-in-high-speed-chases
https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/vigil-long-beach-mother-killed-pursuit-crash/
https://lbpost.com/news/pursuit-killed-wrongful-death-claim-dogs-bingaman/
https://lbpost.com/news/crime/murder-conviction-driver-crash-dogs-walker-jessica-bingaman/
https://lbpost.com/news/family-asks-judge-for-max-sentence-for-man-who-killed-dog-walker-in-high-speed-pursuit/
https://lbpost.com/news/crime/man-gets-49-to-life-sentence-for-killing-dog-walker-and-5-dogs-as-he-fled-from-police/
https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/6915d7c4da48959f543b226d
https://da.lacounty.gov/sites/default/files/press/051519_Charges_Filed_in_Long_Beach_Pursuit_Which_Ended_with_Death_of_Woman_Five_Dogs.pdf