What the heck is going on in this town????? It is getting worse by the day!!! I think the crime rate in this town must be amongst the highest in the nation. Bakersfield is fast becoming a horrible place to live

Hey, it's because gays can get married.  We were warned that the world would come to an end if we let that happen.  Suppoz Ann Barnett's last stand was too little too late...

Man found dead...Gay marriage?  Go drink some beer at trouts and stay of the Internet!

Typo... OFF

What the heck is going on in this town????? It is getting worse by the day!!!

Too many churches.  They don't have these kinds of problems in Norway.

Read the name enough said. 

As teenagers in the 1970's, we would go out to the lake bottom/Maricopa flats area on summer nights and pick up a Ford Falcon trunk load of melons, cantaloupes, peppers, and tomatoes and bring them home to share with our families.  OK, maybe some, but not much, ended up splattered where it shouldn't have.  I could not even imagine killing a friend to just get away from a security person.  But then, there wasn't someone selling produce out of a pickup bed on every other corner in those days either.

Whats going on is People from Los Angeles and Mexico moving here. They have a different outlook on life in 3rd world countries, and unfortunatly society has to sometimes pay the price.

Is that 5 murders in a week last week? 

BrownVaporTrail now you have done it!!!!  Dang you and your comment.  Now this blog will be inundated with terribly long and boring responses from a certain blogger.  This was most likely a farm worker that had  money in his pocket to send home for his family.  God bless him and his family.

Bakersfield, again, has become the killing field. 

This idiot was STEALING watermelons from a field.  He got caught red-handed by security.  Then he tried to get away by jumping onto the back of a moving truck, fell off, then died.  Got exactly what he deserved!  One less thug to worry about.

vwilroy....hahahaah dont ja just luv it????

Please..nobody deserves to die over stealing a watermeleon..thats a bit off the wall.....Im not crazy about "illegal immigration" but they dont deserve to die like that..they just need to go home and apply properly like everyone else..IF he was an illegal...

Not so much... 

Since when does stealing a watermelon warrant the death penalty??? Kbabe you are a heartless piece of doo doo.

Did I miss something? How do we know he was stealing a watermelon?

Oh, is this the guy that fell off the truck stealing watermelons.  I did not put that together.  Legal or illegal, it still sucks.  Rather they steal watermelons than holding up a convenience store and killing the innocent owner or clerk.  Or doing a beer run, get drunk and kill someone.  Stealing is not right in any case but yes, he did not deserve to die this way.  Desperate people do stupid things. 

I suppose we should feel sorry for the dead fool since he was 'only' stealing watermelons from a hard working farmer.  I also suppose he was a stand up pillar of this community who cared so much for mankind that we should now be throwing a car wash to pay for the burial.  It's only until someone steals from YOU that raises ire among such compassionate folk.  Thanks Cheek, your turn of phrase is absolutely amusing :)  BTW, I never said anything about illegal immigration, that's a whole different discussion. 

Here's our updated version of this story:

An Arvin man died over the weekend while trying to escape security after trying to steal watermelons, the Kern County Sheriff's Department reported.

Santiago Guzman Hernandez, 45, had gone to a farm on Panama Road, near Newmarkel Road, with friends Saturday. But security arrived and scared the thieves away. They fled in their truck, but Hernandez was only able to get on the bumper, holding on to the tailgate. He fell off and died from head injuries.

He was eventually found by his family, who called 911. The investigation into Hernandez’s death is ongoing.

Please..nobody deserves to die over stealing a watermeleon..thats a bit off the wall.....Im not crazy about "illegal immigration" but they dont deserve to die like that..

Yes, they do. Every last one of them.

I had a lousy day at work (very few real customers; mostly Mexican looky-loos), but after reading this, I realize that the day wasn't a total waste!

Thanks BNT.  JBS your heartless!!!!!   Glad this post could "make your day"  Manana is otra dia

Where did the expression "He didn't deserve to die this way" come from?  Most people don't deserve to die.  Is it an award or something?  Did he earn it?  Hmm..maybe so.

Oh yeah..if they DO want to hold a car wash tell them that there's a standing car wash at the Skylark on Airport Drive EVERY weekend.  Maybe they can fit them in.

Maybe he wouldn't have died if, lets say he and his so called friends didn't go out and STEEL watermelons.

  But their only to do the jobs us Americans won't do.

  If he and his buddies weren't  illegal maybe they would have taken him to a hospital or called for help. 

  I 'm sure there was one truck load less of watermelons at the swap meet today.  

  Some one dead is never a good thing. But steeling  in also not a good thing either.

At least it's not a homicide.

Bakersfield has always had a high murder rate - one reason used to be that when someone was murdered in LA, people would drop the body off here in Kern County in the fields... or so the rumor said.

Anyone know what Karl Hettinger is up to nowadays? (not sure on spelling of his last name)

Every farmers son I know~ and being from one of the original farming families around here ,I know quite a few~ will tell you there is no sweeter watermelon than a stolen one. *Hurray another dead person!!* sarcasm....

Most people don't deserve to die. Is it an award or something? Did he earn it? 

I deserve to die. I have references.

whadda mean Bako has a high crime right?? havent you heard that RUBIO fixed our gang problem already???

 I never bought em, I use to haul em, ate so many for free that I now can't stand the sight of a watermelon. On the week ends, I'd bring em home for family, neighbors and friends, they got so tired of em, I quit bringing em home.

D Weber-

Former Supervisor Karl Hettinger passed away between five and 10 years ago.

It's called "thinning the herd."  This was more than likely the 4,000th dangerously stupid thing this man had done in his lifetime.  He probably had a blood alcohol level that would kill a mere mortal, and I'm sure his friends (including the driver) did too.  Wacky ideas like stealing watermelons come most often when you're three sheets to the wind.  Even though we have thousands of laws on the books to protect us from ourselves, there's just no protecting some people. 

High price to pay for theft.  But it's probably not his first theft.  And it wouldn't have been his last.

Oh, Nancy...you should know better. Murphy the "dragon smokling a pipe" appeared to fit you better.

So much for B-town's intelligentsia - at least for the ones interested in crime in this area. It must be be some hard times to risk your life stealing a watermelon.....

--virgil

I plan on being 3 sheets to the wind when I go,and I while maybe not exactly deserving to die,will indeed die nonetheless. Be nice please. 

Sorry, I'll try to be more nice in the future. But, I can't promise I'll be less rude..... can't help it sometimes.

good point, sage.

--virigl

Sage, I never said this guy deserved to die.  I just said that doing stupid things can result in death.  I guess for some people life should come with a big, fat warning label.

Cat~ not directed at you,or anyone for that matter. There is only one way off the bus Cat. And I just meant when you guys read my name in the obits,be nice...lol 

I agree that we all have to go sometime, Sage.  It just bothers me when people think they're invincible.  I guess it's exscusable in teenagers, but this guy was 45!  Come on!  I'm sure he would never have believed (in his right mind) that he would die falling off a truck after trying to steal watermelons.  It's ludicrous!  I'm convinced alcohol played a factor in this.

As for your obit--of course we'll be nice!  Uh, you aren't in the habit of stealing watermelons, are you?  ; ) 

See my Aug.10th comment at 7:05...but naturally I would never steal a watermelon! lol 

These guys were friends? What great friends he had, huh! Just seems to me that if they were indeed friends, they'd have stopped the truck long enough to pile him into the bed so as to take him to the hospital for help. The term Friend, is certainly used loosely these days. True friends wouldn't leave their friend behind like that. Certainly to most of us it would be less tramatic to get busted stealing watermelons, then as to feel like you in part, due to your inaction, possably caused a friends death. I can't help but wonder How Much Investagation this will really get.

naturally I would never steal a watermelon!

Sage would never steal a watermelon. But - as all guys know - women have ways of getting men to steal the watermelons for them...

Hey Santiago, in the United States, it's spelled STEAL.

Hey,  I just paid $4.99 for a small watermelon.  Talk about stealing. .

Audrey, look inside. It's probably empty!

It'd better taste like "the food of the Gods" at that price.

How much do you suppose a stolen truckload would bring in.

I was learned in the pubic school, I never learned to spell

Sorry public

Hehehehehehe!

How many of you have done something you're ashamed of? You don't know this man's legal status. As if Americans don't steal? To those of you that find this amusing-this man has beautiful, kind children who don't deserve this sort of mean spirited garbage. He made a mistake. We all do.

I agree Ireland. The next time I go out to steal watermelons, I'm wearing a helmet and knee pads...