Relatives of a 21-year-old man killed and his fiancée critically injured in a September patrol crash in Calimesa have filed a sweeping lawsuit against Riverside County and several other defendants, alleging a sheriff’s deputy blew through a red light and slammed into their car. The complaint, filed May 7, 2026, in Riverside County Superior Court, says Gavin Hinkley died at the scene and 20-year-old Madeline Fox suffered catastrophic brain trauma. The suit names Deputy Glynn Wilburn personally and accuses county and private defendants of gross negligence and recklessness.
A California Highway Patrol report reviewed by the Los Angeles Times states that Wilburn was traveling about 100 miles per hour five seconds before impact, with his siren and forward-facing red-and-blue lights activated. According to those documents, he likely identified the Tesla as a hazard roughly one second before the collision and hit the brakes, slowing to about 72 miles per hour when the patrol SUV struck the driver’s side of the car. “There’s no excuse for a cowboy cop to be barreling down a two-lane road through a red light,” the families’ attorney, Spencer Lucas, told the paper.
The crash happened just after 10 a.m. on Sept. 6, 2025, at Cherry Valley Boulevard and Roberts Street, when Hinkley was making a left turn and his Tesla was broadsided by a westbound patrol SUV, according to earlier California Highway Patrol reporting reviewed by CBS Los Angeles. Hinkley was pronounced dead at the scene, Fox was rushed to a hospital with major injuries, and the deputy, based at the Cabazon station, sustained minor injuries…