A wrongful death attorney for the family of Oakland math teacher Marvin Boomer says police may have treated his girlfriend, Nina Woodruff, as a suspect after the fatal East Oakland crash last May. The claim centers on the aftermath of a police chase that ended in a violent collision at a neighborhood intersection, where Boomer was killed and Woodruff was seriously injured. Michelle Bernard says she intends to file lawsuits against the California Highway Patrol and the Oakland Police Department this week after getting no response from a legal claim filed last fall.
Claim Alleges Scene Response Was Mishandled
Bernard’s filing says Oakland police officers failed to provide Woodruff with medical treatment or support when they arrived at the scene. It also says officers may have treated her as a suspect, which Bernard says left her panicked, bleeding, and disoriented as she wandered away from the crash site before a nearby resident took her to the hospital.
In the claim, Bernard wrote that witnesses heard officers suggest Woodruff might have been in the Infiniti that caused the crash. The filing says that reaction led her to leave the scene instead of receiving immediate care. Bernard is seeking damages between $10 million and $18 million for Woodruff’s pain and suffering, which the filing says includes a traumatic brain injury, a broken arm and other bones, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The wrongful death attorney also says the City of Oakland bears responsibility for poor road conditions near the crash site, including a sinkhole that neighbors had reportedly flagged to the city for years. The filing says the roadway condition, the police response, and the decision to continue the pursuit all helped create the danger.
Wrongful Death Attorney Points to Pursuit Decisions
Bernard says CHP officers chased Eric Hernandez Garcia at unsafe speeds, failed to carry out a risk assessment in a residential neighborhood, and missed two chances to detain him safely. The claim says Hernandez Garcia was driving close to 100 miles per hour before the crash, and that the sinkhole helped set off the deadly sequence of events.
The filing also describes photo and video evidence showing the car first struck a fire hydrant, which was sheared off and hit Boomer’s upper body. The hydrant may also have struck Woodruff, and the car came within inches of the couple before the crash ended. Bernard wrote that the scene turned from impact to silence and then screaming as water sprayed into the air and debris scattered across the street.
Immediate Reactions From the Filing
“The City of Oakland and the California Highway Patrol created the danger, ” Bernard wrote in the legal claim. “The City of Oakland and the California Highway Patrol are responsible for the consequences. ”
Bernard is acting for Boomer’s family and for Woodruff, whose injuries and trauma remain central to the claims. Her position is that the response after the crash matters as much as the chase that came before it, especially if a wounded bystander was mistaken for a suspect at the scene. The wrongful death attorney says the case shows a chain of failures rather than a single mistake.
What Happens Next
Bernard says lawsuits against CHP and the Oakland Police Department are expected this week. The claims will likely sharpen attention on the chase, the sinkhole, and the police response to Woodruff in the moments after the crash.
For now, the dispute is moving from a legal claim into a wider fight over responsibility, and the wrongful death attorney says the city and CHP must answer for what happened at the intersection where Boomer was killed.
