CHP Team Seeks Answers for Survivors

The call came around midnight, just before Sgt. Mike Nemback was due to finish his shift one night last month.

A head-on car collision on Sierra Highway in Agua Dulce had claimed the lives of both drivers, and California Highway Patrol investigators at the scene wanted help.

Nemback, leader of the Newhall CHP station’s new Major IncidentResponse Team, called his team leader and asked him to assemble a squad. Nemback then headed to the scene, where he would remain until well after sunrise.

Formed in March and modeled after several similar CHP programs in Southern California, MIRT, as the team is called, is responsible for investigating fatal accidents likely to result in criminal charges or other litigation.

The Newhall team, which is used primarily in alcohol-related cases, consists of nine officers who are specially trained in different areas of accident investigation.

The unit’s exhaustive investigations are designed to aid the district attorney’s office in prosecuting offenders and to provide families of victims with clear explanations of the cause of fatal accidents, Nemback said.

“We try to close all the doors that might be opened in an accident,” Nemback said. “We get called in by the lead investigative officer and our job is to close all the loopholes related to the incident.”

While some team members comb accident sites that are often larger than football fields, for physical evidence such as skid marks, debris and damage to vehicles, others draw detailed sketches, take photographs, check the drivers’ backgrounds and interview witnesses.

Once all the evidence has been gathered and analyzed--a process that typically takes two to three weeks--the team prepares a detailed report for prosecutors.

“Often a suspect will say, ‘The car’s lights weren’t on. I couldn’t see him,’ ” Nemback said.

“By looking at the filament on the lamps, you can determine if the lights were on prior to an accident. Those are the kind of questions a defense lawyer will ask. We try to be prepared for anything.”

In the Agua Dulce accident, MIRT was called in because officers at the scene suspected that one of the driver’s seat belts had malfunctioned, an issue that could be relevant to public safety and the victim’s family.

CHP seat-belt experts from downtown Los Angeles have been called in to help determine if the device was functioning properly.

For Nemback, a 25-year CHP veteran, the importance of his work hit home last October in a way that he never could have imagined. His daughter, Erica Nemback, a 27-year-old schoolteacher, was killed when a drunk driver with six prior convictions for driving under the influence ran a stop sign and broadsided her car two blocks from her Lancaster home.

Thanks in large part to the work of investigators, Nemback said, her killer was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

“I feel we have an obligation to the families of these victims to be available and answer any questions they have,” Nemback said.

“When there is a death or an injury caused by a drunk driver, we want the family to know we are doing everything we can to push for a conviction.”