“This office is reeling today; we’re on our heels,” said Capt. Jeff Sgobba, commander of the Santa Barbara area CHP, where Martinez was assigned and thrived during his first year as an officer. “This is just a lesson for everyone in the frailty of life.”
Martinez, 30, was struck by a 2009 Porsche on Steele Street, a tree-lined road that crosses the southern tip of Foxen Canyon Road next to Highway 154. Vehicles often exit the highway onto Foxen Canyon Road and cut onto Steele Street as it bends into Los Olivos. But traffic on quiet Steele Street can be difficult to see.
Sgobba said the Porsche, driven by 68-year-old Curtis Seymour Smith, did just this, exiting the highway and turning sharply onto Steele Street, traveling for a brief time in the oncoming traffic lane.
Upon seeing the oncoming car, Sgobba said Martinez hit the brakes and flew off the bike, only to be hit by the passing car and dragged beneath it for approximately 45 feet. An off-duty medical examiner rendered first aid, but Martinez was pronounced dead at the scene.
The accident occurred at 12:15 p.m. Though Martinez was technically on duty, he was on his way home from work, riding his red, 1998 Honda motorcycle.
He had been subpoenaed to court in Santa Barbara earlier that morning, a regular part of the job for many law enforcement officers.
Before heading home to Buellton, Sgobba, who fought back tears throughout a news conference, said Martinez stopped by CHP headquarters to complete his application to become a motorcycle officer, but “didn’t make it home.”
A rookie officer, Martinez graduated from the CHP academy one year ago today, and was stationed at the Santa Barbara office a few days later.
Sgobba said Martinez decided to enlist in the CHP after several years as a top-notch Audi mechanic at Cutter Motors on Hope Avenue, where he started working after graduating from San Marcos High School in 1997.
Being stationed in his home county, Sgobba said, was a testament to Martinez’s stellar performance at the academy.
“Here’s a kid coming home,” he said, “thrilled to be here. He just couldn’t wait to come to work and help people.”
Sgobba said Martinez quickly found his niche in investigative work, and last March, got his first chance to shine. He became the lead investigator in a fatal vehicle accident, in which the suspect, 21-year-old Fabian Maduena, was charged with vehicular manslaughter, driving without a license or insurance and fleeing the scene of an accident.
Martinez helped piece together a complicated crime scene, which unraveled just before 9:30 p.m. on March 7 when dispatchers received calls that a white Mercedes was traveling a high rate of speed southbound on Highway 101 near Fairview Avenue. As the Mercedes, driven by Maduena, neared the Fairview under crossing, it clipped the driver’s rear side of a white Volkswagen sedan, bumping the car off the roadway where it hit an asphalt berm, causing the vehicle to flip an undetermined number of times before coming to a rest on its wheels in the brush along the roadway.
As the Volkswagen was flipping, 41-year-old Rosario Silvestre, who was not wearing her seatbelt, was ejected and killed.
Meanwhile, Maduena left the scene, only to be spotted pulled over several miles from the away. Prosecutors say Maduena stopped his car only after the hood popped up, blocking his vision.
In September, Maduena, of Hollister, Calif., pleaded guilty to several of the charges, and earlier this week, was sentenced to 21 years in prison.
“It was a thrill to watch him progress,” Sgobba said. “[He] was an officer who truly had his whole career ahead of him.”
Smith, the driver of the Porsche, was not arrested, and as of yesterday, had not been cited, Sgobba said. However, he stressed that the investigation is ongoing and charges might well be filed.
The CHP commissioner stopped by CHP headquarters yesterday to speak with officers, Sgobba said, and even spent some time with Martinez’s widow, Patricia.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a statement, and noted that in honor of Martinez, flags at the state capitol would be flown at half-staff.
Though his time in the CHP was brief, Martinez seemed to make a strong impression on Sgobba and his colleagues. Sgobba described the man as “a sponge waiting to take it all in,” “someone who always had a smile,” and “a kid with tremendous amount of potential and tremendous upside.”
“It’s going to sting for a very long time,” he said. “We’re certainly never going to forget Jarrod Martinez.”
Martinez is survived by his wife and 4-year-old daughter, Julia. A funeral service is scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Courthouse Sunken Gardens.