Off Duty CHP Officer drunk when crashed/CA

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CHP officer was drunk in crash, witnesses say
Nancy Isles Nation  

 
 
An off-duty California Highway Patrol officer had a blood-alcohol level of at least .09 percent, slightly higher than the legal limit, when he lost control of his motorcycle and collided with a bicyclist, witnesses and experts testified in Marin Superior Court yesterday.
But Denis Gallotti's .09 reading was not taken until three and a half hours after the crash, following preliminary medical treatment at a hospital in Santa Rosa. As a general rule, a person burns off an average of about .015 percent in blood-alcohol concentration every hour after the drinking stops.

For Gallotti, that could have meant a blood-alcohol level as high as .1425 percent or more when the crash occurred. The legal limit is .08 percent, or a ratio of 8 parts alcohol for every 10,000 parts of blood in the body.

Gallotti, 43, is charged with a felony count of driving under the influence of alcohol and an allegation of causing great bodily harm. If convicted, he could be sent to state prison for up to six years, according to Marin District Attorney Ed Berberian.

In a preliminary hearing yesterday, the cyclist, Samuel Burr McMillan, 50, of Mill Valley, said he was riding east on Point Reyes-Petaluma Road, heading toward his car in Nicasio on the evening of June 5, when he heard a loud motorcycle coming fast from behind him.

McMillan said he had stopped in the bicycle lane to fix a chain that had slipped off its gear, and had just bent over when something hit him and he fell to the ground.

Sitting on the side of the road, McMillan said he looked at his legs and could see what looked like bone sticking out of his leg. He then noticed a Harley-Davidson motorcycle on its side nearby with its driver lying on the pavement.

McMillan suffered numerous fractures and both he and Gallotti were taken to hospitals.

The crash occurred within moments of McMillan hearing the motorcycle approach.

"Literally, in the blink of an eye - it was seconds," McMillan testified.

CHP Officer Rodney Pozzi arrived at the accident scene about 20 minutes after it was reported at 6:03 p.m. and recognized Gallotti as a colleague. He said he was aware that Gallotti owned a Harley-Davidson and said when he spoke to him noticed that he emitted an odor of alcohol.

CHP Sgt. Stan Oertel told the court he went to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital about 9 p.m. after hearing that Gallotti had been in a crash. He went while off duty as a friend, but said he also noticed the smell of alcohol and other signs of intoxication when he spoke to Gallotti.

Investigators from the field had not yet arrived at the hospital, so Oertel's superior's ordered him to arrest Gallotti at the hospital and conduct an investigation. Gallotti agreed to a blood test, which was taken at about 9:40 p.m. The blood drawn registered a level of .09 percent alcohol at the time, slightly more than the .08 legal limit for drivers in California.

"At the time of the accident, it would have been .09 or higher," Oertel said.

Gallotti told Oertel he had had a couple of beers at the Western Bar in Point Reyes Station before getting on his motorcycle.

The CHP does not conduct blood tests at crash scenes, Oertel said in an interview. They are conducted at the hospital after the medical staff evaluates the patient, which can take as long as an hour, Oertel said.

CHP Sgt. Christopher Chiles, an accident reconstruction expert, testified that his research indicated that Gallotti saw McMillan with his bicycle in part on the roadway and in part on the shoulder and braked, then swerved right to avoid him. Chiles said the turn to the right was unsafe and caused the motorcycle to skid and slide.

Gallotti could be dismissed from the CHP if he is found guilty of the charges, according to Sgt. Wayne Ziese, a spokesman for the agency's Golden Gate Division in Vallejo.

The preliminary hearing is continuing, and a ruling is pending on whether there is sufficient evidence to try Gallotti on the charge.