Mother claims daughter wasn’t the driver
Inman has been charged with DUI, homicide
A mother of a woman who has been charged with DUI and homicide said her daughter wasn’t the driver in the crash that ended up killing a passenger in the other vehicle.
Stephanie Lopez, the mother of Rebecca Inman, 27, has posted a video on her Facebook page stating her daughter wasn’t the driver in the crash that happened in January in Porterville.
In her video on Facebook, Lopez said she contemplated “whether she should do this or not” as far as going public. “I think this needs to go public,” said Lopez when contacted on Friday.
In the video Lopez says “I don’t want to hurt my daughter.” But she then said, “I don’t want her to go through any more injustice. This is unfair. I didn’t know what else to do.”
The Porterville Police report states after responding to an injury collision at the intersection of Main Street and Gibbons Avenue officers found Inman and her passenger were traveling westbound on Gibbons Avenue in a 2005 Chrysler Pacifica, approaching Main Street. The report states Inman failed to stop at the posted stop sign, striking a 2016 Mercedes sedan, which was traveling northbound on Main Street crossing Gibbons Avenue.
The passenger in the Mercedes, 69-year-old Maria Herrera, died as a result of the crash. Inman was charged with homicide, gross vehicular manslaughter and DUI of alcohol causing injury with a blood alcohol level above .08. Porterville Police reported Inman’s alcohol level was .19.
Inman is being held without bail and if convicted faces life in prison. “She didn’t do it,” Lopez said in the video. “She wasn’t the driver.”
Lopez admitted in the video about her daughter “she should have never been involved. She knows better.” But she added, “I’m so angry.”
Lopez stated about her daughter she has “lots of evidence that proves she wasn’t the driver. Enough is enough.”
On Friday, Lopez said her daughter was seeking to ask for help when she tried to exit through the passenger side but was unable to do so.
Her daughter then crawled through the driver’s side when two witnesses helped her and placed her in the driver’s seat, Lopez said.
Lopez also said her daughter’s blood was found on the driver’s side airbag. But Lopez is asking Porterville Police to re-open the investigation, saying she would like that airbag to be tested for other substance that could be on it.
And about her daughter, Lopez added, “she’s just asking for a fair investigation.”
But Porterville Police stated its investigation is solid. “The investigation we conducted (at the crash scene) and over the next several days determined she was the driver,” said Porterville Police Sgt. Ron Moore about Inman. “There’s nothing to suggest otherwise.”
Lopez said she’s contacted the FBI, other attorneys and investigators seeking assistance for her daughter. “Who’s going to stand up for my daughter if I don’t,” Lopez said.