Family and friends of a local man e-mailed and called our newsroom after they say he was brutally beaten in a parking lot on Rosedale Highway. The man's family says their son is now brain dead and they have received little information from police on the case or where the investigation stands.
Bakersfield Police say Josh Robertson got into a fight with four other men. But investigators say no arrests have been made, no charges have been filed, and they will not release the names of the men involved. Meantime, Robertson’s mother says her 27-year-old son is brain dead and won't live much longer.
“No matter what group of kids I go to, everyone one of them has a story about Joshua. It cracks me up. I will laugh and laugh and then I will turn around and cry. My biggest worry right now is that these kids are keeping me going, they are keeping me sane. But when I have to lay my baby down, these kids aren't going to be with me. I don't know what I’m going to do,” the mother said.
Paula Robertson says it's only a matter of days before she allows doctors to disconnect her son from life support. As she is overwhelmed with pain, grief, and anger... the mother says it's the support of her Josh Robertson’s friends that have gotten her through.
“This is like my heart as been ripped out and torn in pieces,” friend Robert Waggoner said.
Robertson's childhood friends, family members, and his softball teammates have poured into waiting rooms at mercy southwest for the last three days.
His mother says the 27-year-old was at the del taco on Rosedale Highway at around 2 a.m. on Friday morning when he got in a fight with at least 3 Cal State Bakersfield wrestlers.
“Josh was defending a young lady that's why he did this and I don't think people know that. I just think they want to say he was 3 times the legal limit of alcohol; he gets out of the car and wants to start a fight,” Robertson’s mother said.
The mother admits Robertson was drunk when the fight happened, but says the other men were harassing a woman at the restaurant and her son tried to help.
Bakersfield police confirms 5 men got into a fight on Friday morning, but detectives won't tell us exactly what happened.
“The investigation is still ongoing. We have identified and interviewed everyone involved. Once the investigation is concluded, we will send it to the DA's office for review,” Detective Mary Degeare of Bakersfield Police.
Bakersfield Police will not confirm or deny whether the men involved attend Cal State Bakersfield. And university officials said they did not know anything about the incident.
