CHP Faces Claim After Fatal Crash

A California Highway Patrol officer who was allegedly pursuing a motorist when his cruiser struck another car and killed an Oxnard teenager in March was driving recklessly and failed to activate his siren and flashing lights, according to a legal claim filed by the victim’s family.

The crash killed 18-year-old Jessica Ann Mohorko, a Hueneme High School senior and preacher’s daughter who had just attended a school ball with her boyfriend, Christopher Haynes.

Officer Jake Raughton, 36, and his wife and partner, Officer Christina Raughton, 32, maintain they were chasing a suspected drunk driver when their patrol car collided with Haynes’ car on Oxnard Boulevard, just south of Gonzales Road.

“The officers affirmatively engaged in a course of conduct which created, contributed to, or increased the risk of danger to others on the highway, including Christopher and Jessica ... ,” according to the claim filed by Mohorko’s family on July 17.

Haynes, 18, and the officers sustained minor injuries in the March 23 crash. Christina Raughton has since returned to work but her husband, according to their attorney, has been significantly traumatized and remains on leave.

“This is a police officer’s worst nightmare,” said R. Rex Parris, the Raughtons’ Lancaster-based attorney. “Their car collides with the people they are trying to protect. They’re devastated.”

The 18-page claim, which is a required precursor before filing a lawsuit, accuses the Raughtons, the CHP, Ventura County, the city of Oxnard and the state Department of Transportation of wrongdoing.

It does not specify the amount of monetary damages the family is seeking but includes a claim of emotional distress by family members who say Jessica--who was killed instantly--was left inside the wreckage for six hours while authorities investigated the crash.

According to the claim filed by Andrew Dawson, the Mohorko’s Woodland Hills-based attorney, the officers were not in “immediate pursuit of an actual or suspected violator of the law” and had not notified CHP dispatchers of any active pursuit.

In addition, the officers were driving at an “unsafe and high rate of speed,” according to the claim, and they failed to turn on the cruiser’s red lights to warn other drivers.

Not so, according to Parris, the Raughtons’ attorney. The officers spotted a 41-year-old Oxnard man driving erratically and then watched as he ran a red light in front of them at Oxnard Boulevard and Vineyard Avenue, Parris said.

In the approximately two miles between where the man ran the red light and the scene of the crash, Jack Raughton pursued the suspect at speeds over the posted 45 mph speed limit and used the patrol car’s lights and siren when necessary, Parris said.

Highway patrol officers are required by policy to turn off their red lights and siren when passing motorists to the right, even during a pursuit, Parris said. This occurred during the chase, he added.

Parris maintains the patrol car’s red lights were on when the crash occurred, as well as flashing blue and yellow lights in the unit’s rear window. The alleged erratic driver has signed a declaration saying he was at the crash scene, Parris said.

“The entire pursuit took less than two minutes and they didn’t have time to notify dispatch, which, by policy, they don’t have to do until the violator starts to evade them,” Parris said. “These officers were doing everything they were supposed to be doing.”

At the time of the crash, which occurred shortly after midnight, Haynes was attempting a U-turn on Oxnard Boulevard to reach the parking lot of a Denny’s restaurant.

The patrol car, which was headed south on Oxnard Boulevard, broadsided Haynes’ car and killed Mohorko. Parris maintains that at the time of the crash, Haynes was running an hour late for work at the Denny’s restaurant.

“Young people are often less attentive when they are in a hurry,” Parris said. “What you’ve got here is two circumstances--an apparent drunk driver and a young man late for work--that came together and resulted in something horrible.”

Dawson declined to comment, except to say “the claim speaks for itself.”

In addition to the allegation of recklessness, the claim states Haynes was wrongfully arrested at the scene and later forced to give a blood sample against his will. Haynes, who is black, also claims he was harassed and intimidated by officers investigating the case. Dawson said a federal civil rights lawsuit remains a possibility.

Dawson’s legal claim also criticizes the CHP for allowing married couples to partner up and work together, describing it as “negligent supervision and training.”

Further, the claim alleges that the left turn lane where Haynes was turning did not have traffic control signals and was “obscured by trees and signage” that blocked the view of southbound motorists.

The claim alleges officials were aware of the hazards and dangerous road conditions at the site because of previous crashes and that they should have reconstructed the area to make it safer.

Details and conclusions about the crash are contained in a recently completed CHP report compiled by a special investigative team in San Luis Obispo. That report will not be released publicly for about a month.