Humberto Hernandez was walking on the street with his wife after buying a bouquet and cherries before a dinner reservation
Emilia Randall GAU Writer
08:00, 04 Nov 2025
The 24-year-old was struck in the back of the head(Image: fhm via Getty Images)
A man had just purchased flowers for his wife and was heading to a romantic evening when his life was cruelly snatched away in a devastating ‘million-to-one’ accident.
In a tragic turn of events, a motorist’s burst tyre sparked the catastrophe – the likes of which seasoned Californian police officers had never witnessed before. Humberto Hernandez’s life was tragically ended when a fire hydrant was hurled through the air and smashed through barriers on an East Bay road.
Motorcycle Officer Eddie Bermudez, who investigated the fatality, explained the heartbreak stemmed from the fact that if Humberto had been positioned just a foot to the left or right of his exact spot on the pavement, “he would not have gotten hit”, as reported by the East Bay Times. The investigator described the 24 year old’s death as “a million-to-one chance”.
READ MORE: Teenager arrested on suspicion of murder of Ryan Weir Gibbons in KildareREAD MORE: Trial of man accused of murdering pregnant partner delayed as ‘new evidence’ presented
Humberto, 24, was strolling along the road with his wife in June 2007 after purchasing a bouquet and cherries ahead of their dinner booking at a restaurant. Simultaneously, police report a Ford Escape driven by a 45 year old Danville woman had suffered a burst tyre and had veered onto the pavement.
The SUV slammed into a hydrant, ripping it from the ground and launching it through the air towards Humberto, grazing the pavement before striking him in the back of his head, reports the Mirror.
“He was walking a bit ahead of his wife and then, all of a sudden, he is in the line of fire,” Bermudez said. The hydrant retained sufficient momentum to punch through a fence after fatally striking Humberto, despite its considerable weight.
“You can’t even pick those things up.”
One Sheriff stated that the water pressure was so strong that the 500-pound fire hydrant would have travelled like a bullet.
“I’ve seen people hit fire hydrants but never anyone killed by a flying fire hydrant,” one officer commented. Humberto was declared dead at the scene.
His wife was unharmed and the couple had only recently arrived in the United States, living in a trailer. The investigator was informed that his wife had “no relatives here, no money, no nothing. It was just her and her husband.”