Back to Home Media Blog 13th Annual Bakersfield Move With MADD 5K Brings Together Kern County In Ongoing Fight Against Impaired Driving, Raises Over $66K

13th Annual Bakersfield Move With MADD 5K Brings Together Kern County In Ongoing Fight Against Impaired Driving, Raises Over $66K

September 23, 2026 | Article by Chain | Cohn | Clark staff

13th Annual Bakersfield Move With MADD 5K Brings Together Kern County In Ongoing Fight Against Impaired Driving, Raises Over $66K

Hundreds gathered at Park at River Walk on Saturday, Sept. 19, for one of the most important causes in Kern County.

Some of them ran. Some of them walked. Some of them marched in memory of someone who can no longer do either. Some wore race bibs. Some carried photographs. Some came because they lost someone. Some came because they survived something. All of them came because impaired driving is a daily reality that shows up in crash data, in courtrooms, and in the faces of the families who keep returning to this event year after year.

The 13th Annual Bakersfield Move With MADD 5K raised more than $65,000 to support MADD Kern County’s victim services, school-based prevention programs, DUI checkpoints, and community advocacy. The event was presented by the Law Office of Chain | Cohn | Clark, the Punjabi Golf Association of Bakersfield, and Valley Strong Credit Union.

“This is what community looks like,” said Matt Clark, managing partner and attorney with Chain | Cohn | Clark. “People who have every reason to stay home, who are still in their grief or still in their recovery, who came here anyway because they believe that what happens next matters. That is what keeps this event going year after year, and that is what will eventually change the numbers in Kern County.”

 

The Numbers That Brought Everyone Here

The data behind Move With MADD in Kern County is not getting better fast enough.

Alcohol-involved crashes in Kern County reached 573 in 2025, the highest total in the decade-long dataset from the Transportation Injury Mapping System, UC Berkeley SafeTREC, and the California Office of Traffic Safety. Alcohol-involved crash injuries in the county climbed to 857 in 2025, also the highest recorded figure in the dataset, representing a dramatic increase from 601 injuries in 2016. In Bakersfield specifically, 220 alcohol-involved crashes were recorded in 2025, with 350 injuries and 13 deaths.

The countywide fatality picture has shown some improvement in recent years, with 38 alcohol-involved crash deaths recorded in 2025 compared to a high of 71 in 2020. But injuries are rising sharply, and the overall crash volume in 2025 reflects a community where impaired driving remains a persistent and serious threat to public safety.

Kern County also holds the distinction of ranking among the worst in the nation for DUI arrests, and among the worst counties in California for DUI crashes resulting in injury. In 2025 alone, the Bakersfield Police Department recorded 788 DUI arrests, 443 DUI crashes, and 14 DUI fatalities within city limits. The California Highway Patrol’s Bakersfield division added another 2,224 arrests and 27 fatalities. The Kern County District Attorney’s Office is currently prosecuting more than 1,600 misdemeanor DUI cases and more than 70 DUI felonies.

“These numbers are why Move With MADD exists in Kern County,” Clark said. “And they are why hundreds show up to make clear that this community is not willing to accept them as inevitable.”

 

 

A Morning Built Around Remembrance and Action

The ceremony began with opening remarks from MADD Kern County representatives Georgina Avilez and Amber Morales, followed by statements from Kern County Assistant District Attorney Joseph Kinzel, Bakersfield Police Chief Brent Stratton and Sgt. Rex Davenport. Their presence reflected the law enforcement community’s sustained commitment to addressing impaired driving through both enforcement and community engagement.

Jorge Barrientos, board member for MADD Kern County and Director of Marketing and Public Relations at Chain | Cohn | Clark, represented the event’s planning committee alongside Steve Matejka, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Valley Strong Credit Union.

In his remarks during the ceremony, Barrientos addressed the crowd directly about what keeps bringing people back to this event and what the community’s continued presence means in the broader fight against impaired driving.

The ceremony’s mission moment belonged to Jovon Dangerfield, whose 20-year-old son Cameron was killed on Interstate 5 in Kern County when a repeat DUI offender crashed into him while Cameron was driving home from a work trip to Sacramento. Jovon, a longtime Bakersfield community advocate, mentor, and executive director of TYM4Change, delivered the victim statement and led the moment of silence. His presence at the microphone reflected something the event has always understood: that the most powerful arguments for change come from the people who have paid the highest price.

Since Cameron’s death, Jovon has joined the Safe California Roads Coalition with bipartisan lawmakers including local representatives Shannon Grove and Jasmeet Bains, advocating for a package of legislative reforms including formal Watson warnings for DUI offenders and DMV accountability measures for repeat violators. His presence at Move With MADD was both a tribute to Cameron and a continuation of the work he has committed to in Cameron’s name.

 

The Kids’ Fun Run, 5K, and the Victims’ March

Following the ceremony, the Kids’ Fun Run filled the course with the energy that has become a signature element of the event and a reminder of what impaired driving prevention is ultimately about: keeping families whole and children safe.

The 5K run, walk, and victims’ march followed, drawing participants of every age and background onto the course together. The march element of Move With MADD carries particular meaning for the families of DUI crash victims who come not to run a race but to walk in memory of someone who can no longer walk with them. That parallel presence, runners and walkers and marchers sharing the same course, is part of what gives the event its character.

Awards, medals, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Kern County poster contest followed, with attorneys Matt Clark and Juan Garza serving as the awards ceremony emcees. Top award winners included:

  • Top Friends and Family Teams: The Mooneys
  • Top Individual Fundraiser: Lorraine Duran
  • Corporate Challenge: Valley Strong Credit Union
  • Top Male Runner: Alex Miguel Gonzales, 19:14 (Youth Male: Wyatt Flores and Miguel Soriano, 18:01)
  • Top Female Runner: Cassidy Sugimoto, 25:07 (Youth Female: Noely Mojarro, 19:59)
  • Kid’s Fun Run: Sienna Stallings

 

More Than $65,000 Raised. More Than a Decade of Showing Up.

The more than $65,000 raised at this year’s event will support MADD Kern County’s core programs: direct services for local DUI crash victims and their families, prevention education in Kern County schools, DUI checkpoint funding, and the broader advocacy work that organizations like MADD carry forward between events and legislative sessions.

Since the first Bakersfield Walk Like MADD was held in 2014, this event has raised more than $700,000 for those purposes. The cumulative impact of that investment is difficult to quantify precisely, but it shows up in the prevention programs that reached students who might otherwise have received no formal education about impaired driving, in the victim services that supported families through some of the worst periods of their lives, and in the advocacy that has helped keep the conversation about DUI accountability in front of lawmakers and law enforcement year after year.

This year’s event was made possible by a community of sponsors whose support reflects the breadth of Kern County’s commitment to this cause. Presenting sponsors included the Law Office of Chain | Cohn | Clark, the Punjabi Golf Association of Bakersfield, and Valley Strong Credit Union. Survivor sponsors included Eagle Mountain Casino, the Kern County Prosecutors Association, and Rain for Rent. Spotlight sponsors included Aspire Counseling Services, Bakersfield Police Department Motors, Kern Family Health Care, and Strata Credit Union. Supervisor Jeff Flores participated as a Friend of MADD, and Rise Up Mechanical sponsored the Kids’ Fun Run.

 

Chain | Cohn | Clark’s Role in the Broader Fight

Chain | Cohn | Clark’s presenting sponsorship of Move With MADD reflects a commitment to DUI prevention and victim advocacy that extends well beyond a single Saturday morning. Matt Clark serves on MADD’s advisory board. The firm has supported the DUI petition at bit.ly/duipetition and has advocated alongside MADD for legislative measures aimed at strengthening DUI prosecution and protecting crash victims and their families.

The firm also handles the legal aftermath of DUI crashes throughout Kern County and California. When a drunk or impaired driver injures or kills someone, the path to justice and compensation runs through two separate systems: the criminal process, which holds drivers accountable to the state, and the civil process, which holds them accountable to the people they hurt. Those two systems operate independently. A civil claim for medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, and wrongful death can proceed regardless of how the criminal case resolves.

In cases involving repeat DUI offenders, California law permits claims for punitive damages in addition to compensatory damages, a distinction that reflects the particularly egregious nature of choosing to drive impaired after prior convictions. Understanding what those claims can encompass, and how to pursue them effectively, requires legal experience in personal injury and wrongful death cases involving impaired drivers.

“We are here because we believe in this community and in this cause,” Clark said. “The data on DUI crashes in Kern County is serious. The work that MADD does to support victims and push for accountability is serious. And the families who come to this event and share their stories deserve the full weight of every legal tool available to them when they need it.”

PRE-EVENT MEDIA COVERAGE

———

If you or someone you know is injured in an accident at the fault of someone else, or injured on the job no matter whose fault it is, contact the attorneys at Chain | Cohn | Clark by calling (661) 323-4000, or fill out a free consultation form, text, or chat with us at chainlaw.com.