BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — It has been a year since 16-year-old Angel Berumen was hit by a truck while skateboarding to school. He died afterward and now in 2023, the case is still in the courts.
Berumen's mother has been at every hearing of the trial. When the hit-and-run happened a year ago, it opened a wound for Berumen's family that still cannot heal without justice. They are taking that pain and are trying to make sure his death was not in vain, which is why his mother has been pushing for sidewalks right here.
"I should be getting ready to get him a suit for prom," said Jasmine Burleson, Berumen's mother. "I should be getting ready to let him graduate and all of that. I don’t have any of that."
Jan 25, 2022 was when Burlseson’s life changed forever. That was the day she got the call that her son was hit by a truck on his way to school. Berumen later died from his injuries, and since then, his mother has been working to prevent this type of death from happening again by advocating to place a stop sign in the area Berumen was killed.
"I am 100 percent on there needing to be sidewalks," said Burleson. "There are way too many schools and too many kids in that area for there not to be sidewalks to every single school."
There is one school within a mile of the location where Berumen was hit. There are around three others in the area.
Burleson says it has been rough, with little progress since her son's death. County Supervisor Leticia Perez says that the county has submitted a request to get grant money for the sidewalk.
"It is [a] minimum [of] $1.5 million," said Perez, who serves on the Board of Supervisors for District 5. "We are hoping for more and we can even get more matching grants as we get this first one. We have submitted for more sidewalks, more visibility, [and] this high visibility walk area, which is really exciting ."
Hoping to find out if they got the grant by this Summer, Perez adds this would be more than just a sidewalk.
"[It] would be the first-ever high visibility walk area in East Bakersfield. There is only one other in the entire country. It is in the Downtown Bakersfield area," explained Perez. "You see lots of flashing lights, you see noises. This really draws the attention of drivers to the fact that there are pedestrians in the area."
The walk area is something that Burleson hopes to go through. While she continues to call on those changes, Burleson is not taking her focus off of the court case itself.
Until now, the driver charged with the hit-and-run, Juan Rodales Ortega, and three others, Osbaldo Ortega, Anahy Rodelas, and Liliana Cidrojas, were taken into custody for conspiring to commit a crime but then let out on bail in early February 2022. There was a pre-preliminary hearing scheduled in early January, but the case was given a new status date for further negotiations.
"It is also really hard to see this whole family is just living their life. This stopped my life," said Burleson. "I am not going to miss a court case and make them feel like I gave up on this because my son deserved better than this."
None of the people charged showed up to court for the original pre-preliminary hearing, The new status date is Feb 15.
