Each week, Elsa Espinosa comes to her daughter’s memorial along Highway 221 in Napa.
It was not far away on that highway three years ago that 22-year-old Vanessa Espinosa, who was turning on a green arrow at Streblow Drive, was broadsided by a Cal Fire rig. The Napa Valley College communications major and honor student never regained consciousness, and died within days from massive head injuries.
Until recently, the driver of that rig, Capt. Jake White, faced felony manslaughter charges in her death.
Napa County prosecutors alleged that White failed to exercise “due regard” for safety that day. They cited GPS data indicating at the time of impact, the rig was traveling 45 and 56 mph, far faster than the 5 mph allowed under Cal Fire policy for rigs crossing on red lights. They said there was no need to drive so fast because the brush fire was in the Contra Costa County town of Clayton, some 40 minutes away.
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While one judge ordered White to stand trial, a second judge reviewed the evidence and threw out the charges.
After an apparent paperwork shuffle, prosecutors recently missed the appeal deadline. After failing to get an exception, prosecutors this month told Espinosa’s mother they’ve now exhausted legal avenues to pursue the criminal case.
“She's with me, she's alive in my heart,” Elsa Espinosa said on a recent trip to her daughter’s gravesite. “I am going to continue doing this forever.”
What is so frustrating for the family about the collapse of the case is that CHP investigators concluded Vanessa would have survived if the rig’s driver had heeded Cal Fire policy.
“Do I believe that firefighters are heroes? They may be heroes, but they're humans and they make mistakes and they have to be accountable for this this mistake, to take somebody's life,” Elsa Espinosa said.
Capt. White, a two-decade veteran firefighter, told us during a recent interview that the morning on Jun. 30 began like many others that fire season, a call to a brush fire. “I was responding like I would to any other call. Code Three, lights and sirens, responding in a timely fashion to the emergency. “
White told CHP accident investigators that as he approached the red light, he made “eye contact” with Espinosa from about 100 yards away. He told us, while he couldn’t actually see her eyes, he saw the motorist look up at his rig seconds before impact, then look down.
“I assumed that I was more than visible on a fire engine displaying licensed sirens,” he said. Cal Fire’s policy requiring rigs to slow, White’s attorney Amanda Bevins said, is only “a recommendation as to safe behavior. It's not law and it doesn't constitute negligence.”
She stressed the distance to the call was legally irrelevant and the law affords first responders wide leeway to answer emergency calls, while requiring motorists to yield to lights and sirens. Throughout what has been a three year ordeal, Elsa Espinosa said, “nobody has ever said ‘sorry for your loss.’’’
“The first thing I wanted to do was apologize,” White said, but said attorneys for the state told him not to speak with the grieving family, even as they sat near him in court, where they’re suing Cal Fire for wrongful death.
“You know, I’m sitting feet away from this mother and God, I would love more than anything to give her a hug and let her know how sad and sorry and have the empathy for her position,” White said. “Of course. But in the legal world, I’m told to hold the emotion and go status quo and let the legal system proceed. It's uncomfortable. I don't like that.”
Last year, White said, he sought treatment after experiencing a breakdown. “I didn't want to be alive, to be completely honest,” he said. “I’ve struggled with that to this day. It's affected my children. It's affected my family and obviously my job and my ability to do my job. It’s, it's hard.”
He says Cal Fire has never punished him for the crash. “I was not given any administrative or progressive discipline,” he said, adding that he is currently awaiting official promotion to battalion chief. “If I was not disciplined,” he said, “I'm able to interview for positions that I'm qualified for and I’m doing just that.”
Although he is no longer facing criminal charges, Elsa Espinosa says promoting White sends the wrong message. “What are you teaching the employees? That it's okay to mess up, take somebody else's life, and you’re going to get nothing. Not even a slap on the hand.”
Cal Fire had no comment on the crash or White’s promotion status. Espinosa says she won’t give up her efforts to hold someone accountable.
“You might not see tears right now. You know, I have my moments. I have my times. Every Sunday I go to her garden and cry out to her and cry out to God for justice for my daughter,” she said.
