Deputy Who Fatally Struck Cyclist While Answering Email Will Face No Charges 463
Frosty P writes The LA County District Attorney's Office declined to press charges against a sheriff's deputy who was apparently distracted by his mobile digital computer when he fatally struck cyclist and former Napster COO Milton Olin Jr. in Calabasas last December. The deputy was responding to routine work email when he drifted into the bike lane and struck and killed Mr. Olin. An official with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department said it is launching its own probe into the deputy’s behavior.
From the linked article... (Score:1, Informative)
Wood, a 16-year department veteran, was returning from a fire call at Calabasas High School at the time of the collision.
“Wood entered the bicycle lane as a result of inattention caused by typing into his (Mobile Digital Computer),” according to the declination letter prepared by the Justice System Integrity Division of the District Attorney’s Office and released Wednesday. “He was responding to a deputy who was inquiring whether the fire investigation had been completed. Since Wood was acting within the course and scope of his duties when he began to type his response, under Vehicle Code section 23123.5, he acted lawfully.”
The law does not prohibit officers from using an electronic wireless communications device in the performance of their duties, according to the letter. Furthermore, prosecutors said it was “reasonable” that Wood would have felt that an immediate response was necessary so that a Calabasas deputy wouldn’t unnecessarily respond to the high school.
To establish the crime of vehicular manslaughter, prosecutors would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Wood was criminally negligent. While GPS records show the deputy was driving three miles per hour over the speed limit prior to the collision, investigators could not determine his speed at the time of impact. And while Wood was texting shortly before the collision, there was no evidence he was texting or doing anything else that would have distracted him at the time of the collision, according to the letter.
In fact, evidence indicates Wood’s personal cellphone was only in use while his patrol car was not in motion, the letter stated.
“Wood briefly took his eyes away from the road precisely when the narrow roadway curved slightly to the left without prior warning, causing him to inadvertently travel straight into the bike lane, immediately striking Olin,” the letter from the DA’s Office stated.
Eric Bruins, planning and policy director for the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, said he was disappointed to see a clearly distracted law enforcement officer escape charges on what he called a technicality.
“Just because the law allows someone to do something while driving doesn’t mean they are allowed to do something unsafely while driving,” Bruins said. “Hitting someone from behind is very clear evidence that whatever was going on in that car was not safe and should have been considered negligent.”
Olin’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in July against the county, the Sheriff’s Department and the deputy, alleging driver negligence and seeking to obtain more information about the incident.
In a civil case the standard of proof is only “by a preponderance of the evidence” rather than the much higher standard of proving negligence beyond a reasonable doubt, prosecutors said.
According to the Sheriff’s Department’s own policies and procedures involving the operation of a vehicle, “members shall always employ defensive driving techniques to avoid or prevent a collision” and shall not operate vehicles “in an unsafe or negligent manner.”
Re:yet if we did it (Score:5, Informative)
Sorry. Not being native and neither a lawyer my grasp of these things is limited. What's the difference? (honestly, I want to know in order to prevent misusing them in the future)
Being sued is in a civil lawsuit, usually for some monetary amount (for example by the family of the cyclist), whereas being prosecuted is for a criminal case, with potential prison time (by the district attorney).
Re:yet if we did it (Score:5, Informative)
if this was SOP, than it shouldnt be any longer, and as such the training was bad if it allows cops to break the law in such a way and new training should be in place that says "stop driving to respond to an email, if you need to radio it in" cops have radios for a reason, use them
I understand that the findings show that in this case he was following procedure, but said procedure caused the loss of life, whoever signed off on said procedure should also be held accountable.
Re:yet if we did it (Score:5, Informative)
Funny you say that because the officer initially claim that the bicycle swerved into his path causing the accident:
http://bikinginla.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/JSID_wood.pdf
Re:The deputy initially claimed... (Score:5, Informative)
...from Witnesses, (page 3 of the Police PDF Report):
Re:yet if we did it (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Parallel "Nothing Wrong" case in VA (Score:2, Informative)
Hello, Id like to report a home invasion. You got a dead body you need to come out here and clean up.
Re:yet if we did it (Score:5, Informative)
Or bleeding on the officer.
You jest, but... From: Sept 2009 in Ferguson, Mo: Ferguson Police Beat Up Wrong Suspect Then Charged Him For Getting Blood On Uniforms In 2009 [talkingpointsmemo.com]
...police officers allegedly slammed his head against the wall, hit him and kicking him in the head, .... Davis was eventually taken to the emergency room.
He was charged with property damage, ... with the charging documents stating that Davis "did transfer blood to the uniform."
The local prosecutor later dropped the property damage charges, ... because of conflicting reports from the officers involved.
Re: Ridiculous. (Score:4, Informative)
I am sure you can find a couple of examples, so maybe saying it never happens is overreaching, but you will find a distinct lack of prosecution in car-cyclist deaths compared to car-pedestrian deaths that are otherwise identical.