The recent article on the report made by the California Department of Justice investigation of the Sheriff”s investigation of the fatal boat accident on Clear Lake raises more questions than it answers. Just to give two of many possible questions:
1. The issue of the blood test being given to Chief Deputy Perdock very late, about 24 hours after the accident, is not really addressed by the report. The report endorses the claim the blood was drawn soon after the accident, but gives no clear reasons that should be believed. One would think if there was a question about this, the logical action would be to question the phlebotomist as to when the blood draw was made, but there is no indication the DOJ did this
2. The conflict between the eyewitnesses who say the sailboats lights were on, and those who say they were off, was not at all resolved in the report. Your reporter quotes a DOJ staffer who implied there really was no significant conflict, but this is hardly the impression one got from press reports that quoted witnesses saying they tried to tell Lake County deputies the sailboat”s lights were on, but the deputies would not listen, and completely excluded this testimony from their original reports.
The DOJ report seems to be a whitewash for the Lake County Sheriff”s Dept, and a very weak one at that. The report makes a point of saying, more than once, that they are not re-investigating the accident, and rely entirely, I emphasize ? entirely ? on Lake County Sheriff”s Dept. for all their information.
It seems like a big waste of time for the DOJ to issue such a meaningless report. I hope the citizens of Lake County are not deceived into thinking this question has actually been investigated by outside, higher authority. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Steve White
Lakeport
