Melvin Edgardo Bonilla

How they died

Suicide

Melvin Edgardo Bonilla reportedly began pacing on the Santa Clarita interchange as if he was going to jump. At around 11 a.m. CHP officers arrived, and were later joined by LASD crisis negotiators. The officers tried to convince Bonilla not to jump, but he eventually did after 3 hours of discussion. Bonilla landed about 200 feet below the freeway overpass and died at about 2 p.m. "This one really affected me," said David Pokorny, a CHP investigator and the second officer to arrive at the scene. "We established a rapport. He trusted me."

Why we remember them

This record exists so that Melvin Edgardo Bonilla, and all who are named in this archive, are never reduced to a number.

References & sources