I-Team Follow Up Report
By Dan Noyes
CLEAR LAKE, Calif., Aug. 14, 2007 (KGO) - A woman was killed in a
fatal boating accident in Lake County when a high-ranking official in
the Lake County Sheriff's Department slammed his speed boat into a
sailboat on Clear Lake. However, it is the man steering the sailboat
who is now facing charges. New evidence is really raising questions
about how this case is being handled.

The most surprising fact we uncovered is that Sheriff's investigators
apparently refused to take statements from two witnesses. They have
first hand information that could make a case against the driver of
the power boat, the chief deputy sheriff.

Dan Noyes: "I'd like to talk to you, tomorrow maybe, are you going to
be available for us?"

Russell Perdock, Chief Deputy Sheriff: "No, I won't."

Russell Perdock doesn't want to talk about what happened on Clear Lake
in April 2006. The number two man in the Lake County Sheriff's
Department slammed his 385-horsepower speedboat into a sailboat at
night, killing Lynn Thornton of Willows. Now it's not Perdock who's
facing charges in the death, but the man who happened to be steering
the sailboat at the time.

Bismarck Dinius "I couldn't believe that he was not charged and that
they were going after me."

Prosecutor Jon Hopkins contends Bismarck Dinius should be found guilty
of manslaughter because the sailboat's running lights were off at the
time of the crash.

Dan Noyes: "You have, though, some conflicting testimony whether the
lights were on or not."

Jon Hopkins, Lake County District Attorney: "No."

Dan Noyes: "There are several people who saw the lights on."

Jon Hopkins, Lake County District Attorney: "No, there are not."

In all, the I-Team's identified nine people, on the sailboat and on
shore, who say the sailboat's running lights, cabin lights, or both
were on.

Doug Jones, witness: "I saw clearly the cabin light and the stern
light."

Doug Jones watched "Beats Workin' II" sail past his marina with lights
on, before the crash. But when he spoke with a deputy sheriff the next
morning, he says it seemed the case had already been solved.

Doug Jones, witness: "A deputy sheriff came over the following morning
and told me that they had already proven that there were no lights
on."

Dan Noyes: "The following morning?"

Doug Jones: "The following morning."

Dan Noyes: "That was fast."

Doug Jones: "At eight o'clock in the morning."

Worse still, Jones says the deputy refused to take his statement.

Doug Jones: "And at that point, I told him I saw the cabin and stern
light."

Dan Noyes: "What did he say?"

Doug Jones: "You couldn't have."

Dan Noyes: "He said that you couldn't have."

Doug Jones: "I couldn't have and left."

Peter Elmer, retired police sergeant: "I think something's not right
here."

Peter Elmer had the same experience. The retired police sergeant from
East Bay Regional Parks oversaw the marine unit there. Elmer says he
tried to tell the Lake County Sheriff's Department he spotted Perdock
driving 50 miles an hour right before the crash, but claims they
refused to take his statement, as well.

Peter Elmer, retired police sergeant: "I called back and said,
'listen, a deputy needs to come talk to us,' and they said, 'no,
that's okay.' Well, putting that in perspective and the fact that he
hasn't been charged, I thought something's not right here."

Dan Noyes: "Two witnesses who say they had firsthand knowledge of what
happened say your deputies resisted taking their statements. From
their perspective, it seems like you decided from the beginning that
Russell Perdock could not be at fault. Your response to that?"

Rodney Mitchell, Lake County Sheriff: "I would ask you to identify who
those people are who said that and then we'll follow up to make sure
that's not the case."

After our interview, Sheriff Mitchell had his investigators contact
Peter Elmer and Doug Jones -- their statements are now part of the
case file. But the Lake County prosecutor tried to downplay the
importance of witness testimony, after all, the accident happened 300
to 500 yards off shore.

Jon Hopkins: "How good is somebody's wild guess from shore, as to the
speed of the boat."

Dan Noyes: "But Perdock says himself it was 40 or 45. Is that in your
mind unsafe?"

Jon Hopkins: "Well, in a, in a -- I can't tell you what's safe and
unsafe."

Perdock told investigators he was driving 40-45 miles an hour on a
dark, moonless night.

Zina Dotti, sailboat passenger: "We were just driving along, I
guess."

And people involved in the accident told deputies from the beginning
that Perdock was driving too fast. This is a sheriff's department
interview with Zina Dotti, a passenger on the sailboat.

Zina Dotti, sailboat passenger: "And it was like I saw this boat right
like there. And I said, 'we're going to get hit.' I turned to Ed and
said, 'they're going to hit us,' and the next thing I know, pow."

Deputy: "Was the boat going fast?"

Zina Dotti: "Oh my god, it was hauling. It was going very, very, very
fast."

Lake County authorities commissioned an independent investigation by
the Sacramento Sheriff's Marine Unit. It concluded Russell Perdock
broke federal navigation laws by failing to maintain a safe speed.

Dan Noyes: "That's what the Sacramento Sheriff's Office concluded, and
you didn't charge Perdock for operating his boat at an unsafe speed.
Why not?"

Jon Hopkins, Lake County District Attorney: "Our charges in this case
were based on what we can prove in terms of criminal negligence."

And, the Sacramento Sheriff's report did not recommend prosecuting
Perdock. The defense attorney for Bismarck Dinius says Lake County's
Sheriff and District Attorney have not carried out a fair and
impartial investigation.

Victor Haltom, Dinius defense attorney: "It makes sense, they handle
their cases together, and in this case, it just seems obvious that the
Lake County District Attorney's Office is protecting one of their
own."

The same independent investigation found that Bismarck Dinius and the
sailboat owner, Mark Weber, failed to turn on running lights or keep a
lookout. Blood tests the night of the accident showed they were both
under the influence of alcohol.

Russell Perdock's blood test came back clean, but the label on his
blood sample shows he wasn't tested until more than 24 hours after the
accident. A sheriff's deputy filed an addendum to say the technician
had made a mistake -- Perdock really had his blood test 11:30 the
night of the crash.

Zina Dotti: "I don't think that's correct at all."

But, passengers from the sailboat were adamant -- they saw Perdock at
the scene from the time of the crash, well past midnight.

Zina Dotti: "It was like 12:30 when we finally had got a deputy to
bring us to our car."

Investigator: "Okay, and you're saying that the driver of the
speedboat was still there."

Zina Dotti: "Yes, he was there the whole time we were there."

Russel Perdock refuses to address any of these issues on advice of his
attorneys.

Dan Noyes: "I wonder if you feel bad about this other guy taking the
blame for what happened?"

Russell Perdock, Chief Deputy Sheriff: "See you later."

Perdock's still working as the number two man in the Lake County
Sheriff's office, and the man now facing manslaughter charges in the
boat crash is furious about it.

Bismarck Dinius: "I would tell him do the right thing, I think you
should step down, resign from his position, and take it like a man."

It may be telling that Russell Perdock was never listed as a suspect
in the investigative reports -- it was only Bismarck Dinius or the
sailboat's owner, Mark Weber.

Read part one of this story: Fatal Boat Crash: Wrong Man Charged?

Joe wrote:
I-Team Follow Up Report
By Dan Noyes
C
Read part one of this story: Fatal Boat Crash: Wrong Man Charged?


They should stop mucking about with the local craphead police and go to
the State Police and ask for them to take over the
investigation...that's what we ended up having to do when we had the
right-of-way accident...what a bunch of graft and collusion....hope the
guy who owns the sailboat gets the dead woman's family to sue the
UnderSheriff in civil court...they'd win big time......