West Sacramento Unhoused Man Killed After Fire Engine Runs Over 2 People

Advocates for unhoused people in Yolo County have raised alarms about a housing crisis that has forced residents to seek shelter in dangerous places after a West Sacramento fire truck ran over two people sleeping outside on Friday morning, killing one.

The fire truck was responding to reports of a brush fire in an open area. The engine was on a dirt trail when it drove over a carpet with Glenn Stark and Katie Delgado inside.

The Yolo County Sheriff’s Office Coroner Section pronounced Stark dead at the scene, according to West Sacramento police spokesperson Taylor Nelson. Delgado is being treated at UC Davis Medical Center and is in stable condition. Both Stark and Delgado were unhoused.

This tragedy follows a string of high-profile accidents involving unhoused people. In April, an SUV crashed into a tent after jumping a curb in Sacramento, sending three people to the hospital. And last summer, a woman in Modesto died after getting run over by a lawnmower while sleeping in tall grass.

“We’re seeing these tragedies happen because people are living on our streets and not in housing and in safe places,” said Crystal Sanchez, founder and president of the Sacramento Homeless Union.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has increased pressure on cities to clear encampments following a Supreme Court decision in June that gave them the green light to enforce camping bans by citing and arresting people, whether or not there are shelter beds available. In July, he issued an executive order directing state officials to dismantle homeless encampments from public areas, urging cities to take similar action. One month later, he vowed to take away funding from cities and counties for not clearing encampments.

Sanchez and other advocates said policies pushing unhoused people “out of sight” and into less conspicuous spaces have created new dangers, especially during fire and flood season.

“If they’re not on the sidewalks, they’re being pushed out into rivers and these secluded areas,” Sanchez said.

According to the 2024 Point-in-Time Count, there are roughly 1,000 homeless people experiencing homelessness in the county, a roughly 26% increase over two years.

Londell V. Earls Sr. is the executive director of Yolo County’s Homeless and Poverty Action Coalition, which conducted the homelessness survey. Earls attributed the increase to the rising cost of living in Yolo and Sacramento counties, as well as the end of eviction moratoriums, rent relief and other emergency benefit services that helped people straddling the poverty line cover expenses during the pandemic.

Earls and Sanchez also cited Newsom’s executive order directing state agencies to remove encampments. Earls said the order had created confusion for service providers in small communities with fewer resources, like Yolo County.

“It just gave us the steps to clear encampments versus saying, ‘Look at your own independent community and see how this is needed,’” he added.

According to Earls, the order accelerated a growing trend of unhoused people “camouflaging in places they feel are safe, where they won’t be interrupted or aggressively removed.” He doesn’t blame the fire department for Stark’s death.

“As long as people are being treated differently for being homeless, incidents like the one over the past weekend will continue to happen,” Earls said.

The California Highway Patrol is investigating the incident, and the personnel involved have been placed on leave, according to a West Sacramento Police Department statement.

“We are grieved any time that an emergency response results in a death or injury of someone we are sworn to assist,” West Sacramento Fire Chief Steve Binns said. “We will fully cooperate with the CHP to help determine exactly what happened. We provide exceptional training and resources to our firefighters and will assist each firefighter who responded through this tragic situation, including with grief counseling.”