Last Friday, Assemblymember Mike Gipson (D-Carson) held a bill signing ceremony where he honored community activists who helped pass key pieces of his 2023-2024 legislative agenda. Included in that ceremony were supporters of A.B. 2984 known as D’Ancee’s Law which removes the statute of limitations for hit-and-runs resulting in vehicular manslaughter or serious injury.
The issue of hit-and-runs is personal for Gipson. In 1989, D’Ancee Barnes was three years old when he was killed by an unknown Cadillac driver in a hit-and-run crash outside of his uncle’s apartment. The driver allegedly got out of her vehicle and looked at the child she had killed before getting back in and driving away.
Barnes’ mother and Gipson married in 1995, and both have tried several times to light a fire under the case that remains unsolved. They have offered a reward, appeared together in newscasts about cold cases, and have retold their story in the press time and time again.
D’Ancee’s death remains an unsolved crime.
“I know that nothing can bring D’Ancee back,” Gipson said, speaking about D’Ancee’s Law. “Yet I have introduced this bill since 2016 because other families don’t have to go through Lacresha’s and my experience.”
Gipson’s hope is that by ending the statute of limitations, it will prevent “cold cases” from becoming closed cases when a person is badly injured or killed by a hit-and-run driver.
A.B. 2984 was supported by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Streets for All, Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE), and police officer associations. It was opposed by public defenders and defendant’s rights groups that expressed concerns about the loss of evidence as time passes.
Gipson has continued to push traffic safety legislation this session with the introduction of A.B. 981 which would require people convicted of reckless driving offenses to install systems (ISA systems - for Intelligent Speed Assistance or Intelligent Speed Adaptation) in their cars that would limit the car’s speed. In their legislative breakdown of the first round of introduced bills, CalBike has listed this bill as one they might support once more details of the legislation are known. Governor Newsom vetoed legislation that would have mandated ISA systems be included in all cars sold in California.
The bill signing event also featured an overview and celebration of A.B. 3085, which includes street racing crimes in the list of offences for which a peace officer may impound a vehicle, pursuant to a warrant or order issues by a magistrate.
