Deputy faces felony charges after deadly Redding wreck
REDDING, Calif. — A Shasta County Sheriff’s deputy who was involved in a fiery wreck that killed one person and seriously injured a mother and her baby last November is facing multiple felony charges, the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
Shasta County Sheriff’s Deputy Henry Taylor was also injured and hospitalized after the deadly crash, which happened on SR-299W, west of Lower Springs Rd., near Newfound Way, in an unincorporated area west of Redding.
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According to an extensive, year-long CHP investigation, at approximately 8 p.m. on Nov. 6, 2019, Taylor, who was on duty when the accident occurred, was responding to a non-emergency call in the Rock Creek area. CHP’s investigation also revealed the call Taylor was responding to had come in an hour and a half earlier.
During their investigation, CHP determined Taylor was driving 109 miles per hour westbound on Highway 299W when he hit a deer, careened across the highway and slammed head-on into a 1999 Toyota Corolla traveling the opposite direction.
The impact of the collision caused the eastbound vehicle to burst into flames and caused the deputy’s vehicle to roll down an embankment near a creek bed, leaving the deputy trapped inside the mangled wreckage of his vehicle.
A mother, later identified as Justine Leeann Jackson, was driving the car with her baby in a child safety seat in the back. A man, Harrison Carmel Breedlove, was in the front passenger seat.
Witnesses and another sheriff’s deputy were able to pull Jackson and her baby out of the burning car. However, Breedlove was trapped in the wreckage and perished at the scene.
According to documents obtained by KRCR News Channel 7, an autopsy later concluded Breedlove died of blunt trauma to the torso. “No soot was found in his airways, meaning he was already dead before the fire got to him,” reported KRCR.
“As a result of his excessive speed, Taylor’s marked patrol vehicle collided with a deer and then an eastbound vehicle resulting in the death of a passenger in that vehicle and seriously injured two others,” DA officials said in a social media release.
SEE ORIGINAL STORY: Deputy involved in fiery SR-299W crash that killed one, injured three
The deputy has been charged with one count of felony vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and two counts of felony reckless driving causing injury, according to the DA’s office. He was also charged with one count of infraction for driving more than 100 miles per hour.
The criminal case against Taylor is pending and he has not yet been taken into custody.
No additional details have been released by the DA’s office.
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Trevor Montgomery, 49, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News, (the now defunct) Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County and Mountain Echo in Shasta County.
Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.
Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.
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