Boy drowns while fleeing off-leash dogs in California City park
Police said two off-leash dogs chased 12-year-old Fernando Torres Moreno into a Central Park lake; a September 29 preliminary-hearing ruling discharged a second-degree murder count while leaving other charges pending.
Incident summary
California City police said two off-leash dogs chased 12-year-old Fernando Torres Moreno at Central Park. The boy ran into the lake while fleeing and drowned. Officers also found a girl with serious but non-life-threatening bite injuries. The dogs’ owner, Kenneth Dobbins, was later charged. At a September 29 preliminary hearing, a Kern County judge found insufficient evidence to hold Dobbins to answer on the second-degree murder count, while allowing involuntary-manslaughter and dangerous-animal charges to proceed, according to KGET/17 News.
KGET/17 News reported that at a September 29, 2026 preliminary hearing, Kern County Judge Charles R. Brehmer found insufficient evidence to support the second-degree murder count against Kenneth Dobbins and discharged that count. The judge found sufficient evidence for the remaining charges of involuntary manslaughter and failure to control a dangerous animal resulting in death and injury. Dobbins remained in custody without bail and was due back in court October 8 for arraignment. These are pending criminal charges, not convictions.
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Primary record used by BiteDB
KABC reported that authorities said two off-leash dogs chased Fernando Torres Moreno, 12, into a California City park lake where he drowned. The owner was later arrested and faced involuntary manslaughter and negligent-ownership charges.
Open original source ↗Additional sources
- Man in custody after dog attack led to boy’s drowning in Kern County, police sayLocal television reporting citing California City Police Department · 2026-06-25
- Judge finds insufficient evidence for murder charge in Cal City dog attackKGET/17 News local court follow-up, syndicated by AOL, reporting on the Kern County preliminary-hearing ruling · 2026-09-30
What BiteDB does not infer
Breed is recorded only at the provenance level shown above. Missing injury details, dog history, ownership facts or circumstances remain unknown unless a reliable source establishes them. This record may be updated as police, animal-control, medical, court or follow-up reporting becomes available.