Judge Rules CalFire Chief to Still Stand Trial for Fatal Crash

A Superior Court judge in San Bernardino denied a defense motion to replace the vehicular manslaughter case against a Cal Fire unit chief with a civil settlement that provided $15 million to the children of a Banning man killed in a collision, reports The Press Enterprise.

On Aug. 1, 2012, Tim McClelland was driving his Cal Fire vehicle on the 210 freeway in Highland when he changed lanes as traffic slowed and rear-ended a car driven by Gregory Kirwin, 48. Kirwin was killed, and McClelland was charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.

The California Highway Patrol said McClelland had been texting a few minutes before the crash and had been talking on his phone using a hands-free device immediately before the collision.

In November 2013, the state paid Kirwin’s daughters, Belle, now 6, and Amethyst, now 8, $7.5 million each.

The state Penal Code allows a civil judgment to satisfy a misdemeanor criminal charge if the victims or immediate survivors consent and other criteria are met.

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