Officials Probe Fatal Car Chase

Ventura County sheriff’s officials are investigating the details of a high-speed pursuit over the weekend that resulted in the death of a Camarillo father of six.

Stephen Paul Aguirre, 39, was on his way to the driving range at Camarillo Springs Golf Course on Sunday morning when he was broadsided by a Nissan Maxima traveling up to 80 mph. A Ventura County sheriff’s deputy had spotted motorist David Inder Bagai, 30, driving erratically and was in pursuit at the time.

“An officer involved in that sort of accident has tremendous empathy for the family and real grief that a life was lost,” Sheriff Bob Brooks said Tuesday. “It’s a very sad situation. But you have to keep in mind it was the criminal who took the life, not the officer.”

The crash occurred shortly after 9 a.m. Deputy Bryan Fliva first saw the Nissan while stopped at a red light at Adolfo and Lewis roads in Camarillo. After the light changed, Bagai, also of Camarillo, quickly accelerated to about 45 mph until he reached the next traffic signal at Adolfo and Ponderosa Drive, officials said.

Bagai turned left on Ponderosa, heading west, and twice more accelerated rapidly until reaching traffic signals, authorities said. When the light at Ponderosa and Temple Avenue turned green, the motorist abruptly switched lanes to pass a car and then returned to the No. 1 lane before speeding off at a rate faster than the posted 40 mph speed limit, according to police reports.

After Fliva began his pursuit, Bagai accelerated to about twice the speed limit and went through at least two red lights before slamming into Aguirre’s Ford Escort, which was heading south on Carmen Drive at Ponderosa Road, police said.

Bagai, who suffered a leg injury, was booked on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and felony evading arrest. His bail is set at $100,000 and he remained in custody Tuesday evening.

The chase lasted less than a minute and covered less than a mile, officials said.

As is standard procedure in such accidents, the department will conduct an internal review of the incident. Brooks said a preliminary investigation suggests the deputy performed according to the department’s pursuit policy.

“There isn’t anything in the policy, that I can see, that could have been changed that would have prevented this tragic loss of life,” he said.

Brooks would not disclose what investigators believe might have motivated Bagai to flee. But a sheriff’s statement issued Monday said the department was “investigating a road-rage incident that occurred in the city of Thousand Oaks several weeks ago involving the same suspect.”

A review of court records shows that Bagai was cited Feb. 22 for speeding and failure to produce proof of financial responsibility while traveling on Old Conejo Road, just east of Jenny Drive, in Newbury Park. He received court fines and fees totaling $846, which remain unpaid.

“I pray to God that no family has to go through what we’re going through,” said Aguirre’s wife, Kristlle. “I hope the person responsible, who was driving the car, is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and is never released and never able to do this to another family.”