Posts Tagged ‘Petaluma’
A dispute over a 2007 traffic ticket that has cost Petaluma police more than $15,000 to defend is now in the hands of a court commissioner, whose ruling could set a precedent for using GPS data to challenge police radar.
The case, which has drawn national attention, stems from a speeding ticket Windsor’s Shaun Malone, then 17, received on Lakeville Highway after a Petaluma police officer using radar said he clocked the teen’s 2000 Toyota Celica GTS going 62 mph in a 45-mph zone.
Malone’s family contends a GPS system they installed in his car to monitor his driving proves he was driving 45 mph at virtually the same time and place Officer Steve Johnson said Malone was speeding.
Malone was found guilty and fined $194. His appeal of that decision has involved several court hearings, the testimony of an expert in satellite technology and re-creations of the events of the morning in question.
It’s also meant a significant cost to police, who spent $15,000 alone for the expert’s three court appearances — one that had to be postponed when Andrew Martinez, the attorney retained by Malone’s family, asked for a continuance.
Police Lt. Mike Cook defended the expense, saying the ticket was based on Johnson’s accurate observations of Malone’s car and subsequent radar reading.
He said the Police Department also is worried about a precedent being set that casts doubt on the accuracy of police radar.
“We can’t back away from a ticket we feel is justified and necessary for traffic safety due to the cost of appeals and prosecuting it,” he said.
All GPS systems in vehicles calculate speed and location, but the tracking device Malone’s parents installed in his Celica downloaded the information to their computer. The system sent out a data signal every 30 seconds that reported the car’s speed, location and direction. If Malone ever hit 70 mph, his parents received an e-mail alert.
On July 4, 2007, Malone was on his way to Infineon Raceway when Johnson said he clocked Malone’s car going 62 mph about 400 feet west of South McDowell Boulevard.
The teen’s GPS, however, pegged the car at 45 mph in virtually the same location.
At issue is the distance from the stoplight at Freitas Road — site of the first GPS “ping” that showed Malone stopped — to the second ping 30 seconds later, when he was going 45 mph.
Sonoma County Deputy District Attorney Michael Li wrote in his closing arguments that given the distance, which he pegged at 1,980 feet, and time between pings, Malone would have had to have been traveling at an average speed faster than 45 mph, thus supporting the officer’s observations and the radar.
But Martinez, in his written statement, said the distance was 1,950 to 2,010 feet, making it possible for Malone to travel the two points without speeding.
He said Roger Rude, Malone’s stepfather and a retired Sonoma County sheriff’s lieutenant, was able to replicate the 45-mph scenario a dozen times. Video of the experiment was introduced as evidence, as was video of police conducting their own re-creation of events.
The defense also attacked the accuracy of radar, saying Johnson’s readings could have been affected by everything from reflections off street signs to him erroneously locking on the wrong vehicle.
In an interview, Rude called the effort to contest the traffic citation worth it to correct a “miscarriage of justice.”
“Shaun’s a good kid,” Rude said of his stepson, now 19 and a student at Santa Rosa Junior College. “He’s been very compliant with the restrictions we put into place on his driving. For us to not do our part because we ran into head winds would deliver the wrong message.”
Rude also called the case a “missed opportunity” by Petaluma police to focus on the merits of using GPS to make teens safer drivers.
“That to me is a far bigger issue than the fear their radar ticket might be overturned by new technology,” Rude said.
Commissioner Carla Bonilla is expected to issue a ruling in coming weeks.
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The driver who was killed when his vehicle crashed more than 200 feet off Point Reyes-Petaluma Road Thursday was identified as Harry Samuel Atkinson, 80, of Daly City.
According to Andrew Barclay of the California Highway Patrol office in Marin County, the CHP received the call reporting the accident at 12:46 p.m. Thursday.
Atkinson’s 2005 Ford Escape plunged 200 feet down an embankment on the 5900 block of the road, near the McEvoy Ranch.
Firefighters responded and used ropes to reach Atkinson and pull him back up the embankment, but he died after being airlifted to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.
The cause of the accident is under investigation.
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PETALUMA, Calif. — An 18-year-old Petaluma man was injured when a pipe bomb exploded in a portable toilet located in a public park on the Fourth of July.
At about 10:35 p.m., Officer Matthew Capitelli was flagged down at Lucchesi Park to assist with someone who had been injured.
“The officers found… the subject had a puncture wound to his back,” said Petaluma police officer Tim Lyons.
The injury was severe and the victim was losing a large amount of blood, police said.
Medical personnel arrived while Capitelli was assisting him and transported him to the hospital.
The man said he was walking by the portable bathroom located near the park when he heard a loud bang and felt the injury to his back. The portable bathroom had evidence that a pipe bomb had been detonated inside, according to police.
The shrapnel from the pipe bomb had blown through all the walls and the roof of the portable bathroom. A piece of shrapnel from the pipe bomb hit and injured the victim.
“We don’t have any witnesses to the crime. No one reported it or called in any loud explosions,” said Lyons. “The female that flagged down the officers just found the injured subject.”
The man is in stable condition and an investigation is ongoing, according to the Police Department.
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PETALUMA, Calif. — Petaluma police and animal control personel were on the lookout Thursday after multiple reports of a black bear roaming the city’s streets.
The animal has been described as a black bear weighing about 200 pounds. It’s been seen in the area of East Washington Street and Maria Drive.
Animal control calls the sightings credible. Those who saw it said the bear walked down the street, then ducked into a creek and disappeared.
Before dawn Thursday the search was on. The sheriff’s chopper was up in the air and guns were drawn down on the ground. The search lasted a few hours but was called off before the sun came up. Within a few hours, the bear sighting slowly became the talk of the town.
“I’ve been in Petaluma 40 years. I’ll be truthful, I’ve heard of mountain lions up in the mountains, but bears? I’ve never seen a bear,” said local resident Mike Alvardo.
Animal Control officer Jeff Charter said he’s been in Petaluma for five years and never had a bear call. Then he had one resident tell him of a black bear sighting on Tuesday and then three more sightings late Wednesday night.
Charter said the callers told police the bear was walking along East Washington Street jumping from the adjacent creek, to the street, and back to the creek.
“He was just around. He wasn’t on anybody’s car from what I’ve been told. Didn’t get into anyone’s trash or after anyone’s pets.” said Charter.
The city of Petaluma is known to many for its quaint downtown, river, and rolling hills… but a bear sighting? That had people chatting.
Raul Lopez was more than surprised, “I was shocked a bear around these parts?”
Petaluma Animal Services said there’s been 12 bear attacks since 1980 in California, but not one in Petaluma.
And Petaluma native Mike Alvarado doesn’t foresee one in his lifetime. “To me it’s a gimmick. To me, like I say, I hunt every year. Hunting with my father since I was five years old so bears down this low I’ve never truly heard of it.”
Petaluma Animal Services said it received one more call Thursday.
Officers went to the northwest part of town to check it out and officers discovered a bear track in a driveway, but no black bear.
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My name is Kyle Kazak and I am the CEO and President of Kazak Media, a local Internet marketing firm that specializes in web design, local SEO, and pay per click management. We are located in Petaluma, CA, USA.