Hernandez died in the hospital on March 4th, after falling into a coma and spending more than a month in intensive care.
He may have tried riding for help, according to KNBC-4. Even if he didn’t ride after the bite, the exertion of mountain biking could have caused the venom to spread faster.
They say he was mountain biking with his dad when he stepped aside to let others pass on the trail, and was bitten by the snake.
According to the crowdfunding page,
We are a family that handed our son over to people we trusted and never got him back. Please help spread the word and the love of my brother, who was cherished by so many, and who impacted even more people than we can imagine. Raising these funds will help cover the costs of hospital fees, his memorial service, and any additional financial strain that arises from this ongoing situation.
Julian was a leader in his community. He was a son, a brother, a loving boyfriend, and a friend to everyone. We will pursue the truth about what happened to Julian and we will stand up for him. This is not about anger. This is about accountability. This is about making sure the next family that walks through those doors doesn’t live our nightmare. Julian loved hard, laughed loud, and made everyone around him feel like they mattered. He deserved better. Please help us fight for him.
It sounds like they are blaming the hospital or the physicians who cared for him for Hernandez’ death.
As of this writing, the page has raised more than $28,000 of the $123,000 goal.
The CDC reports that only around five of the 7,000 to 8,000 people bitten by venomous snakes each year end up dying.
Whatever the reason, he was one of us, and his death serves as a tragic reminder of the dangers of mountain biking, and the need to always be on the lookout for unexpected risks on any trail.
Even one close to the city.
This the 20th bicycling fatality that I’m aware of in Southern California this year; it also appears to be the first in Orange County.
And yes, it’s the first death by snakebite in the nearly 20 years I’ve been doing this.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Julian Hernandez and all his family and loved ones.
May 20, 2025 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Missing bikepacker found safe, guilty verdict in meth-fueled death of 12-year old OC boy, and letter demands action on HLA
Day 140 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
………
My apologies for the extended absence.
The problems I was having with low blood pressure last week cascaded into a crisis over the weekend I was lucky to weather without ending up in the ER.
Although I probably should have, according to my wife, anyway.
I have no problem accepting my mortality, given that, as a diabetic in my late 60s, I have a life expectancy somewhere between a fruit fly and a green banana.
And I accept that I may never ride my road bike again. Or maybe any bike, for that matter.
But I worry about what happens to this site when the day finally comes that I can’t do it anymore.
In the meantime, I’ll do my best to keep things going on a regular basis. Or often as my aging body lets me, anyway.
The boy’s father was forced to watch the crash that killed his son, screaming for Lavalle to stop his pickup before crushing Noel’s bicycle, and catapulting the boy roughly 120 feet through the air.
Police founds drugs in Lavalle’s truck, and he was unable to stand on one foot for a field sobriety test following the crash; a blood test found meth in his blood hours after the crash.
Although his wife, who was riding in the passenger seat, tried to claim the drugs were hers.
Lavalle had previously been convicted driving under the influence in San Diego County, which allowed prosecutors to upgrade the charge from manslaughter to murder.
………
No surprise here.
Streets For All, the original sponsor of Measure HLA, took a look at the the status of HLA projects that the city reports on the official HLA website, and find it, well, lacking.
Tres shock!
They responded with a letter calling the city out for its failure, and urging it to work with them going forward.
At 4,210 acres, Griffith outshines other extraordinary city parks of the US, such as San Francisco’s Golden Gate, which barely tops 1,000 acres, and New York’s Central Park, a mere 843 acres. Griffith’s peaks tower above those flat competitors too, with nearly 1,500 feet in elevation gain, making it practically vertical in orientation. And LA’s crown jewel of a park is still largely uncut, much of it remaining a wilderness area preserved more than 100 years ago, and barely developed, unlike the pre-planned “wild” designs of Golden Gate and Central Park.
Add its history, views, recreation opportunities, unique and hidden spaces, a free Art Deco observatory and museum, the most famous sign in America and the park’s overall star-power, and you have a compelling case that Griffith is not just epic in scope but the greatest city park in the nation.
There’s something for everyone there: a zoo, playgrounds and an old-timey trainyard for the kids; challenging and steep trails for hikers; dirt paths for equestrians; paved roads for bikers; diverse flora and fauna for nature enthusiasts; and museums for the science and history learners.
Take that, New York.
……….
Gravel Bike California makes a run for the border by riding the Taco Bell Century with Grizzly Cycles.
………
Cate Blanchett is one of us.
Seriously. What could beat Blanchett on a bike?
Cate Blanchett having the time of her life, as captured by photographer Annie Leibovitz.#BicycleBirthday Cate BlanchettBorn May 14, 1969
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A British paper says the only surprising thing about a London pedestrian being killed by an ebike rider earlier this year is that there aren’t more cases like it. Which is a pretty good indication that it’s not as big a problem as they’re trying to make it out to be.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
The notoriously anti-bike New York Post writes that the city must stop treating bicyclists like a special class, for everyone’s safety. Because it’s not treating bike riders like a special class at all when the cops give scofflaw bicyclists criminal summonses that drivers aren’t subject to, apparently (see National news below).
No bias here, either. After the La Mesa council voted to build eight bike lane and sidewalk projects near the city’s schools, a San Diego TV station can only manage frame the story through the lens of the single councilmember who voted against it — then somehow says the city is divided.
A reporter for NPR says bike riding helps with long-term knee and health problems, even if like life, it doesn’t always make sense. True enough. Riding a bike helped keep my failing knee going for a couple decades after a surgeon told me it needed to be replaced. And hid my diabetes for at least that long.
Colorado authorities are asking for the public’s help finding a hit-and-run driver who killed a 41-year old man riding a bicycle in Boulder County on Sunday. Note that they asked for help right away, rather than waiting until the trail has run cold and people have forgotten key details, like the LAPD does.
You’ve got to be kidding. A British coroner ruled that the crash that killed a bicyclist was “unavoidable,” following testimony from the driver that the dark-clad victim “suddenly” appeared in front of her car after she “momentarily” looked down at her gear shift. Because a) bike riders don’t “suddenly” appear out of nowhere, and b) no crash is “unavoidable.”
Horrible news from Japan, where a 70-year old Osaka man jumped or fell from a high-rise condo, and landed on a man riding a bicycle in the street below; the victim was believed to be a 59-year old man from a city over 300 miles away.
Good question. A Colorado public radio station asks why bike racing has struggled to succeed in the state when it has such a strong bicycling culture. Although it’s not just Colorado; pro cycling has struggled everywhere in the US, as former fans of the Tour of California can attest.
Linton blames the staffing shortages on the feared budget shortfalls due to the pandemic, which failed to materialize thanks to federal COVID recovery funds.
However, the department has been understaffed for years, particularly in regards to bicycling and walking infrastructure, which has severely hampered the department’s ability to make much-needed changes to our streets.
The bikeways are currently being planned or implemented in Los Feliz and the San Fernando Valley, including —
Replacing sharrows on Riverside Drive south of Griffith Park with a lane removal and parking protected bike lane, the first in the 4th Council District, due to be complete in the next few months.
Adding protected bike lanes on Riverside Drive north of Griffith Park, in cooperation with Glendale and Burbank.
New bike lanes on Hyperion Blvd from Griffith Park Blvd to Rowena Ave to connect current bike lanes on Rowena and Griffith Park Blvd, as well as bike lanes promised for the Glendale-Hyperion Bridge.
Closing an existing half-mile gap in the bike lanes on Burbank Blvd between Hazeltine Ave and Van Nuys Blvd, part of the city’s Vision Zero High Injury Network.
Adding protected bike lanes leading from the G Line — nee Orange Line — bike path to the North Hollywood Metro Station and the Chandler bike path.
Raman is also assuming shared responsibility for portions of projects already underway in what was formerly other council districts, which were moved into her district under the recently redistricting.
A new three-mile long segment of L.A. River Greenway from Vanalden Ave to Balboa Blvd, which will nearly complete the river path west of the Sepulveda Basin, shared with 3rd District Councilmember Bob Blumenfield
The 3-mile long Reseda Boulevard Complete Streets Project currently under construction from Victory Boulevard to Parthenia Street, shared with Blumenfield and CD12’s John Lee.
Unfortunately, she no longer has responsibility for much of Hollywood, Mid-City and Hancock Park, so any hope for changes there will depend on who replaces Paul Koretz in CD5, and whether Mitch O’Farrell remains in office in CD13.
Thanks for covering my office's work on bikeways in the district, @streetsblogLA!
Lavalle was driving a rented moving truck when he allegedly ran a stop sign, and slammed into the boy as he rode in a crosswalk on Arlington Drive.
He was previously convicted of DUI in San Diego County in 2013, which justifies the murder count for a second violation under California law, and was on parole at the time of the crash.
He faces up to 30 years behind bars if he’s convicted.
Without digging into the details, the main point of the changes is to give greater priority to vulnerable road users. Or put another way, unlike 007, they’re taking away drivers licenses to kill.
One they apparently issued themselves.
No one set out to turn our towns, cities, villages and rural roads into dangerous hellholes. It just happened as motorists assumed the right to highways which were never designed for motor traffic. It was the exercise of raw power: drivers of motor vehicles lording it over the rest of us because they could.
It’s worth a few minutes to give it a read.
On the other hand, there are people who don’t get it at all. Take this gasoline-addled automotive troglodyte.
Please.
Under cover of Covid, they have turned our city centres into crazy golf courses, intended to frustrate freedom of movement by giving priority to Lycra-clad lunatics on racing bikes and suicide jockeys on e-scooters.
Transport policy has been captured by single-issue, anti-car fanatics, hell-bent on bankrupting businesses and causing the maximum possible inconvenience to the traveling public…
Our other major cities have suffered from pollution-spewing traffic jams created by Town Hall Guardianista polar-bear huggers in thrall to the cult of the great god cycling.
Maybe that should read ‘Cyclops’, since the pushbike lobby are terminally myopic when it comes to seeing any point of view other than their own warped ideology.
Nope.
No bias there.
………
When is a Culver City protected bike lane not a bike lane?
— Let's Get Neighborhood Approval to Save the Planet (@ChrisByBike) January 25, 2022
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Someone is sabotaging a pilot bike lane on a Boston bridge installed to test plans for a more permanent lane, tossing orange cones marking the lane into the Charles River, not just once, but twice over the last weekend.
A man was shot in a driveby while riding his bike at Whites Canyon Road and Delight Street in Santa Clarita; there’s no word on his condition, or if the shooting was gang-related or a road rage attack.
Sometimes the needless death of an innocent person doesn’t merit even a few inches in the local paper.
Let alone a passing comment on the nightly news.
On Monday, I started hearing reports of someone killed in a collision while riding a bicycle in Costa Mesa, based on posts from the notoriously unreliable Nextdoor app.
By Tuesday morning, the location had shifted to nearby Newport Beach, along with comments suggesting the driver had been arrested. But still no confirmation from the coroner’s office or any of the local news outlets.
The coroner reported that 80-year old Ernest Adams died at a Santa Ana medical center early Monday morning, following a collision somewhere in Newport Beach Sunday afternoon.
According to the site, multiple witnesses reported seeing the suspect blow through a stop sign before slamming into Adam’s bike; a street view shows a residential street controlled by a four-way stop, with bike lanes in three directions, next to Newport Harbor High School.
Twenty-year old Norwalk resident Alexis Garcialopez was reportedly arrested for DUI causing serious injury after failing a roadside sobriety test.
Hopefully, that will be upgraded to vehicular homicide in the wake of Adams’ death. Because after 80 years on this earth, he definitely deserved a better ending.
This is at least the 17th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the second that I’m aware of in Orange County.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Ernest Adams and all his family and loved ones.
A witness began CPR before police officers responding to the crash took over until paramedics arrived. But despite their efforts, he was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Fifty-nine-year old Long Beach resident Richard Lavalle was driving east on Arlington when he reportedly ran a stop sign, throwing Baskin several feet through the air.
Despite being under the influence — again, allegedly — and on parole, Lavalle remained at the scene.
He was booked on charges of murder and DUI, as well as a parole violation.
The murder charge suggests that Lavalle has a previous conviction for driving under the influence, and signed a Watson Advisement warning that he could be charged with murder if he killed someone while driving drunk or stoned in the future.
His passenger, 56-year old Artesia resident Lee Anna Diaz Murphy, was booked on possession of controlled substances and possession of unlawful paraphernalia.
Anyone with information is urged to call Costa Mesa Traffic Investigator Kha Bao at 714/754-5264.
This is at least the 63rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 17th that I’m aware of in Orange County.
Update: Lavalle is being held without bail after he was charged with second-degree murder, and faces up to 30-years behind bars if he’s convicted.
My News LA confirms he was driving while stoned, and did receive a Watson Advisement following a 2013 conviction for driving under the influence in San Diego County; otherwise, he would have faced a manslaughter charge.
He could also be charged with a third strike after robbery convictions in 2009 and 2018, which could mean a possible life sentence.
His passenger, Lee Anna Murphy, has yet to be charged despite being found in possession of illegal drugs and paraphernalia.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Noel Bascom and all his loved ones.
The victim, who was publicly identified only as a 68-year old man, was riding on the 2900 block of Harbor Blvd when he was struck by a tow truck driver around 11:30 pm.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver stayed after the crash, and was not suspected of being under the influence.
Unfortunately, no other information is available at this time.
A street view shows a six lane divided roadway with a wide sidewalk, lined with a number of car dealerships; it’s possible the driver was entering or leaving a car lot at the time of the crash.
Anyone with information is urged to contact to contact Costa Mesa PD Traffic Investigator Darren Wood at 714/754-5264.
This is at least the 47th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 12th that I’m aware of in Orange County, continuing a very bad year for bike riders in the county.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and his family and loved ones.
Stephen Taylor Scarpa’s arraignment, scheduled for last Friday, was delayed again.
There are so many facets of this case that don’t look good for him: his status as an addict; his admission during interrogation that he should not have been driving; the amount and sheer number of drugs in his system; the presence in his vehicle of drugs obtained from an alleged overprescriber; his crash after “passing out” behind the wheel earlier in the year… etc.
He’s going down.
What perplexes me is the murder charge, because I can’t find any evidence of a prior DUI conviction — within LA or Orange County, at any rate. He could have priors elsewhere.
The Watson law is specific in its requirements: party has to be informed upon a DUI conviction of the possibility of a murder charge if said party kills someone while DUI.
So, this would mean, wouldn’t it, that Scarpa’s been convicted in some court at some point within the past 10 years?
A Watson advisement notwithstanding, PSA’s, American alcohol ads, and the DMV paperwork you sign before the state issues you a license all tell you that DUI is dangerous. But is that bombardment of facts enough to define malice, which is a required component of murder?
There’s one other thing that might convince a jury that Scarpa was aware of the dangers of DUI, enough so to convict of murder and not just manslaughter.
In 2011, as a student at Esperanza High, he participated in an Every Fifteen Minutes event, which is pretty comprehensive. In addition to pulling “dead” students out of classrooms every 15 minutes, a simulated collision is set up on campus, with the driver “arrested,” and moulaged “injured” & “dead” students extricated from the wreckage. These actors don’t go home that night; they’re sequestered overnight at a hotel, where they write a “Today I died” letter to their parents. (The parents also write to their dead kids.) The next day, these letters are read aloud at a school assembly.
Scarpa was one of the dead who was extricated from a mangled vehicle, who told his parents he died, who read this letter to his entire school.
I hope, every night before he falls asleep, he thinks of all the letters Mike Kreza never gets to write.
Pratiti Renee Mehta is back from her vacation in Chowchilla Women’s Facility. She’s in custody in County, awaiting a court appearance this morning. I will be there, because I am a horrible person and will enjoy seeing her violent, unrepentant ass in saggy jail-issued fashion and shackles. The sentencing was in July, and I missed it. How it wasn’t on my calendar, I dunno. (Busy week with the PAC on the 18th and the Caltrans D7 BAC on the 19th, but I wouldn’t have skipped the sentencing for anything.)
Due to a “clerical inadvertency,” Mehta had been sent up to state prison prior to a required sentencing assessment.
According to court records, on July 17th, the Defense’s request to reduce the felony hit-and-run count to a misdemeanor was denied, and then the judge sentenced Ms. Mehta to 3 years in state prison.
Two other things surprise me about the sentence: (1) The judge actually threw the book at her, wow. (2) The People didn’t request anything close.
That’s right, the People actually requested leniency: 90 days in County and an additional 200 hours of community service. For a woman who broke a guy’s bones, left him in the street, and then put in deliberate effort to lie to the cops about it. I remain furious that the ADW charge didn’t stick.
Hannah Jordan suffers from an unknown metabolic disorder that prevents her body from storing glucose; when she started on an intravenous formula from a Santa Barbara company, she began to thrive — and kick ass on her bicycle.
She’ll compete in Phil Gaimon’s hillclimb competition on Gibraltar Road with the feeding tube attached, then may train for international competition at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs CO.
And yes, her tube has been approved for competition.
There’s a special place in hell for a Japanese man who rode his bike up from behind a bike-riding 17-year old girl and groped her breast as he rode past, telling police he just couldn’t control his lust for her. Which should be read as a confession from a total asshole.
Streetsblog says Gavin Newsom’s veto of the state’s Complete Streets bill stinks, and that Caltrans’ reasoning for fighting it is “hogwash.” Someone suggested that we should now call getting hit by driver on a Caltrans-controlled street “getting Newsomed,” just like we called a close pass “getting Jerry Browned” after he repeatedly vetoed the three-foot passing law.
Virgilio Lemus Garcia, the 60-year old victim in Sunday’s Santa Ana hit-and-run, remains in grave condition; police are looking for a dark blue mid-’90s, four-door Honda Civic with probable front end damage and a possible shattered windshield.
Apparently never having heard of induced demand, Caltrans will close San Diego’s Friars Road this weekend in preparation for adding a fourth lane in each direction, along with sidewalks and bike lanes. Hopefully, they’ll also consider how the hell pedestrians are supposed to cross that massive monstrosity.
Apparently, it’s okay to be nuts for nuts. But don’t eat too many because they can cause kidney stones, as I learned the hard way.
A new survey from Lime says scooter users don’t want to ride on the sidewalks, but do it anyway because they don’t feel safe on the street. Which is exactly the same reason many bike riders do. And the answer isn’t threatening or ticketing them, it’s building more and better bike lanes.
Kansas City’s mayor wants to rip out a new protected bike lane less than a month after it was installed, saying it’s made things very difficult for businesses and residents. Apparently, it must have been installed on a whim, without any studies, since he wants to remove it the same way; any change to a roadway requires time for people to adjust to it before you know how its going to work out.
A new British study shows a cheap, widely available drug could save hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide if given in the first few hours after a head injury; the medication, called tranexamic acid, costs the equivalent of less than $8 in the UK. Which means it will probably sell for a couple thousand dollars a dose in the US.
And it’s not a record jump if you don’t stick the landing.
………
Thanks to John Hall for his generous donation to support this site, and help keep SoCal’s best bike news and advocacy coming your way (nearly) every day.
Kreza was training for an Ironman Triathlon when his bike was struck by a car driven by 25-year old Stephen Taylor Scarp around 8 am Saturday on Alicia Parkway near Via Burgos.
He was reportedly hit from behind as he was riding in the bike lane on eastbound Alicia Parkway, suffering critical wounds to the head and body.
Our brother, Mike Kreza passed away early this morning. Words alone cannot describe the immeasurable heartache felt by his friends & family, including his fire family.
No further information will be provided at this time.
Scarp remained at the scene. He was arrested on suspicion of DUI after police found multiple prescription medications in his car. At last report he was being held on $100,000 bond, pending a hearing scheduled for tomorrow.
Kreza leaves behind a wife and three young daughters.
This is made even more tragic, not just because of the families he leaves behind — both his own and the close-knit firefighter community — but because so many of us owe our lives to the men and women who devote theirs to saving others.
He died, sadly and needlessly, not in a courageous effort to rescue someone else, but as one of us.
Police say that Leslie Pray, a 54-year old Claremont resident, was intentionally run down by 61-year old Sandra Wicksted, also from Claremont.
Wicksted reportedly had swerved in the direction of other bicyclists just moments before turning her wheel towards Pray, and swerving across the roadway to slam into her bike as Pray rode in the bike lane on North Mills Avenue near Radcliffe Drive.
Police found several empty liquor bottles in Wicksted’s car after the crash. She was arrested on suspicion of murder, and being held on a $2 million bond.
Tragically, Pray had only started riding a few months earlier.
No surprise here. Bird has filed suit against Beverly Hills and their misguided total ban on dockless bikes and scooters. The only question is what took them so long?
Hundreds of bike riders rode through Ventura County in the annual fundraising ride in honor of Mike Nosco, 14 years to the day after he was killed when his truck collided with an unlighted farm vehicle.
Good question. A drivers website asks why hit-and-runs are at an all-time high nationwide, but doesn’t really come up with an answer. Although someone should tell them hit-and-run is a crime, not an accident.
This is the cost of traffic violence. A Wisconsin driver smashed into a group of girl scouts at they were picking up trash along the shoulder of a highway before fleeing the scene; three girls were killed along with a parent, and another girl is in critical condition.
Evidently, it’s open season on bike riders in Canada. The father of an Ottawa crash victim called the verdict a disgrace as a driver was acquitted in the speeding, hit-and-run death of his bike riding son; the driver claimed he fell asleep at the wheel and had no idea he hit anything, despite awakening to a loud bang.
He reportedly crossed over both lanes on the transition road and was struck by a car traveling at an estimated 70 mph. He was declared dead at the scene.
The driver, a 24-year old woman from Yorba Linda, remained at the scene. She was not cited or arrested.
No explanation was given for why Gutierrez was on the freeway; bicycles are banned from most urban freeways in the state.
