A 2-year-old boy whose death in a wash in Barstow during a September rainstorm appeared to be a tragic accident is actually the victim of a crime, authorities say, after Xavier Padilla-Aguilera’s father was charged Tuesday, Oct. 21, with vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.
Brandon Padilla-Aguilera, 26, of Barstow, was scheduled to enter pleas in Superior Court in Victorville on Tuesday afternoon to that charge as well as one count of willful child endangerment likely to cause injury or death.
The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office also filed a special allegation of willful harm or injury resulting in death, said Jacquelyn Rodriguez, a DA’s spokeswoman.
A charge of gross negligence requires prosecutors to prove that a driver acted recklessly with a disregard for human life. Rodriguez declined to describe that act.
“The investigation submitted to us by Barstow PD revealed negligent actions by the defendant leading up to the death of Xavier Padilla,” Rodriguez said in an emailed statement. “Further evidence and facts will be presented during preliminary hearings.”
The cause of death was drowning, said Gloria Orejel, a Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman.
Barstow police arrested Padilla-Aguilera, 26, on Friday when they served an arrest warrant at his home on Chandler Avenue. He was being held at High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto in lieu of $1 million bail.
Capt. Daniel Arthur, a police spokesman, declined on Tuesday to describe the actions of Padilla-Aguilera that constituted a crime.
The defendant’s mother, Carolyn Tackett, said in an interview on Tuesday that she was waiting on those details.
“We have not learned anything. We are waiting to hear from Brandon,” Tackett said.
Her son was driving on Sept. 18 when the car somehow entered the wash in the area of West Main Street, west of Lenwood Road. The father got out of the car first and then retrieved Xavier, who has autism, Tackett told KABC/7 during the search. The father was found safe on an island, but Xavier’s body was found about 20 hours later in the San Bernardino County Flood Control channel south of the Mojave River.
The storm caused rockslides that trapped motorists on Highway 38 and mudslides that inundated San Bernardino Mountains communities including Forest Falls, Angelus Oaks, Seven Oaks and Oak Glen.