Brian Liles

Brian Liles was a California Highway Patrol officer who served more than 16 years, most recently as a motorcycle officer based in the Visalia Area. He died in the line of duty on 28 September 2026 at the age of 44 after an on-duty traffic collision on State Route 99 near Tipton in Tulare County. It was the CHP's first line-of-duty death since 2020.

Liles graduated from the CHP Academy and was assigned to the San Jose Area in 2010. He later served in Hayward and Fresno before transferring to Visalia in 2019. In 2025, after completing motorcycle training at the Academy, he became one of the first officers assigned to motorcycle patrol for the Visalia Area, a new local programme that put him on two wheels on Central Valley freeways. That assignment reflected both personal qualification and the patrol's effort to expand motorcycle enforcement in Tulare County.

His work was the unglamorous core of highway policing: traffic enforcement, motorist assistance and presence on some of California's busiest roads. Colleagues and state officials who spoke after his death described an officer whose commitment to the job and to the public was steady across Bay Area and Central Valley postings.

On 28 September 2026 at about 5:11 p.m., while riding a department motorcycle northbound on SR 99 just north of SR 190 in Tipton, he collided with a truck tractor, was ejected, and was struck by a passing vehicle. First responders gave emergency care at the scene, but he died there of his injuries. The CHP announced the death that evening with profound sadness. Governor Gavin Newsom ordered flags at the State Capitol and Capitol Annex Swing Space flown at half-staff and said Liles would be remembered for his dedication to serving and protecting the people of California.

He is survived by his wife, two children, his parents and two sisters. A procession later escorted him from the crash site toward Visalia as colleagues and the community began to mourn. Badge number 19932 appears on the CHP memorial portrait circulated with the announcements. Local and statewide coverage from outlets including KCRA, ABC30 and the Visalia Times-Delta recorded the facts of the crash and the tributes that followed.