Fatal Boat Crash Lawsuits

As I write this, negotiations are underway in Sacramento in civil lawsuits filed in connection with the fatal boat crash on Clear Lake last year.

As we showed in our first two reports, the number two man in the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Russell Perdock, slammed his powerboat into a sailboat at night, killing Lynn Thornton of Willows.

Exactly one year after the accident, the Lake County District Attorney filed manslaughter charges in the case – not against Chief Deputy Perdock, but against the man who happened to be steering the sailboat at the time, Bismarck Dinius. Prosecutor Jon Hopkins contends Dinius is responsible because the sailboat’s running lights were off at the time. As we reported, there are conflicting accounts on the issue of lights.

On the civil side, as you might expect, the lawsuits are flying. Lynn Thornton’s Estate and her 21-year-old son are suing Chief Deputy Perdock, Bismarck Dinius, sailboat owner Mark Weber, and James Walker, Perdock’s longtime friend who was riding in the power boat with his 14-year-old daughter. Dinius is suing Perdock. Weber is suing Perdock. Walker is suing Perdock. And, Perdock is suing Dinius and Weber.

Sources familiar with today’s negotiations say they’re considering two pots of money at this point -- from Perdock’s boat insurance and from Weber’s boat insurance. The attorneys will apparently deal with that first, and if the amount of money is not great enough, they could go for the defendants’ personal assets.

The sources also say there is little chance of the matter settling today for one simple reason. At least one more lawsuit appears to be on the way, from two passengers in the sailboat, Zina Dotti and Ed Dominguez. The I-Team’s interviewed them, and they’ll be part of a look at the Lake County D.A.’s case, this Thursday at 6pm. Tonight at six, we’ll have comments from Lynn Thornton’s son as he headed into the negotiations, and a “no comment” from Russell Perdock and his attorney.

Tuesday, August 21st 3pm Update

We have an update to the criminal case. The defense attorney for Bismarck Dinius filed a motion on July 30th to remove the Lake County District Attorney from the case, arguing, “In a classic case of misdirected blame, the Lake County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting Bismarck Dinius – a man who was involved in, but in no way responsible for the fatal boating collision. The district attorney’s office is positing Mr. Dinius as the fall guy, seeking to save the neck of Chief Deputy Perdock.” The defense attorney wants the State Attorney General’s Office to take over the case. A Lake County Superior Court judge will decide the issue at a hearing on August 31st. For that proceeding, the Attorney General’s Office has just filed this opinion – they should not take over the case. Among the reasons: “It is well established that a district attorney’s office may properly prosecute members of law enforcement agencies including high ranking members of those offices.” We’ll be there in court next week to see how it all plays out.

Comments

[JULIA]

IT SURE IS COINCIDENTAL HOW THE #1 SHERIFF OF LAKE COUNTY RODNEY MITCHELL USE TO WORK FOR SACRAMENTO COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.
ISN'T THAT WHERE THERE INVESTIGATORS ARE FROM?

[upset]

What can Lake County citizens do if the Attorney General will not help us??? We are also involved in a lawsuit that is getting nowhere due to the good old boys in Lake County--

[Disappointed]

It is so obvious that this case would be handled entirely different if the victim in the sailboat was a Lake County Sheriff and the speeding power boat was being driven by a civilian. It is as simple and uncomplicated as that. You can bet your hind end that the civilian would be in jail and sued for everything they own. Perdock, Hopkins and Mitchell are pond scum and no matter how hard they try to make that poor SOB who was steering the sailboat look bad and take the blame, Perdock is guilty, guilty, guilty of manslaughter. How any any reasonable and fair D.A. or Attorney General not see this for what it really is? MAJOR COVER UP IN LAKE COUNTY!!! IT JUST GOES ON AND ON. Doesn't the AG's office pay any attention to the enourmous outcry and response from the public??? How can the Lake County DA and Perdock, along with Mitchell continue to get away with putting themselves above the law? Can somebody answer that question???

[Southpaw]

Can someone please tell me what the next step is. If the AG will not step in on a case that is clearly a classic case of misdirected blame who can we turn to for help. One thing that the people of Lake County have is the fact that the ABC I Team will be in court to report the case.

[KC]

Welcome to the State of California.

A legal system by the state for the state and to protect the state at the expense of the people.

At this rate we might as well call each other comrade.

To bad this AG and his staff don't look at the overbearing facts.
They only look at the letter of the law. (Procedural Law) "However when it is one of their own." They apply the spirit of law to their benefit.

I try to respect the legal system but I have learned many times it is deplorable and this time this is the case.

Wait and see what this county does in regards to what will be admissable in court. I can see it now, Poor decisions that will be headed to the appeals court for a determination and reversal.

It is protest time in Lake County. Arraignment date August 31, 2007 at the court house. Be there!!!!

[nameless]

WE see Russ Perdock was riding his Dad around in his Sheriff's car again this afternoon--hum--was he on duty??Is this allowed??? Personal use????

[lostinLakeCO]

We plan to be at the courthouse for this--I hope a lot of people show up--we need the media to tell the story of what goes on in the Lake County Court system.There are other cases involving the Perdock family in court and problems with them--Mr. Noyes you need to look into these too. Maybe check with the local attorneys to see who is trying to do some good.

[fireangel]

Mr. Dan Noyes: I am ever so curious. Did the Fire Department and or paramedics respond to this incident? Have you takled to any of them if they did respond? Or did just the Sheriff's Department respond? Was there a 911 call or just the one to the Sheriff's Department? Could her life been saved if paramedics were there sooner? Have you interviewed his new girlfriend Tami?

[Jo Ann]

Mr. Perdock-If you are reading this blog-I ask you in all fairness (if you are a fair man) to get your Father to stop the lawsuit agains us--it is ruining our lives--you know and we know and even your Father's lawyer admitted off the record that the property line lawsuit has no merit--the survery proof we are in the right--why does your Father and you as a part of the Perdock trust keep this lawsuit going--?????

[Disappointed]

This is to FIREANGLE: PERDOCK DID NOT CALL 911 - HE CALLED HIS BUDDIES AT THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE (DISPATCH). It's obvious why he did that - if he would have called 911 (as he should have), then the fire dept & paramedics would have responded, as well as CHP. He didn't know these people and knew he had to cover his ass, so he called his own dispatch. Cover up from the start!!!! Scum bag to the end!! I wonder what he would be saying if he lost a loved one under these circumstances? You can bet he wouldn't be going after anyone except the jerk who was speeding at 50 mph in the dark!!

[outraged]

MR. PERDOCK: How do you sleep at night knowing that a completely innocent man is being blamed for your negligence???? There is a special place in HELL for you!

[disappointed too]

Perdock must sleep just fine. People with no heart have no problem going on and sleeping just fine. His judgement day will come maybe not here on earth but surely in the next life.

[Anonymous]

DISAPPOINTED-It is morons like you who spin this story out of control because you have NO IDEA what the heck your talking about. The Lake County Sheriff's Office answers ALL 911 calls made in the county of Lake for Law Enforcement AND Fire Rescue. If you call 911 from a cell phone, you get the CHP who then transfers the call to the Lake County Sheriff's Office!
You are only fortunate the anonymity of this BLOG lets you get away with such reckless ridiculous allegations. Yeah.... and exactly what makes you think the CHP would have responded to a boat crash (READ: California HIGHWAY Patrol- this was a lake you know water....??????) And regarding Perdocks blood alcohol and your big conspiracy theory...what makes more sense........the cops go get Perdock at nearly MIDNIGHT the following day and take him to the hospital for a blood draw, where they convince every mmber fo the ER staff to falsify hospital records to indicate the blood draw occured 24 hours earlier ****OR***** The deputy who filled out the forms shortly after midnight by the time the blood was drawn and handed over to him for evidence booking, writes down the time it was drown (11:30PM) looks down at his watch for the date and since its now past midnight his watch displays the date of the next day and he writes that down. A simple error that occured the minute the clock struck 12 midnight and the date changed. The loss of Lynn Thornton is tragic and I feel for her family, but you people are acting like a bunch of rabid dogs based upon a VERY biased news reporter with an agenda. Noyes has all the paperwork from the hospital that proves that Perdocks blood was drawn that night shortly after the accident, despite the error the collecting deputy made in filling out the blanks on the form. Trust me if he has all those evidence photos he damn sure has the hospital records. As a matter of fact ask him why he didn't mention the time/date on the medical records? I'll tell you why...he wants you to beleive the LCSO is hiding something dark and sinister. As a matter of fact, ask the LCSO for it, they are not hiding anything, which is why they have turned it over to the AG's office, inviting scrutiny.

Dan Noyes used his position in the media to distort this story worse than anything I've ever read or seen in my life.

This is a tragic event and everyone involved loses, but I have faith in the Lake County Sheriff's Office. The Office of the Sheriff did everything right in handling this case, including seeking outside impartial investigators, consulting the AG's Office and turning the investigation over to an outside agency.

Oh yeah...don't forget 9/11 was an inside job.....kooks....

[Enraged]

Dear Anonymous Could your name be Russell Perdock? It sure sounds like it! If it isn't I sure feel sorry for you and your bad judgement in favoe of LC. It is a known fact that there is nothing but coruption over there and has been for many years.

[A Lakefront Homeowner on Clearlake]

I think everyone is grossly overstating the difference that the running lights on the boat would have made in this accident. It is extremely difficult on this lake to see a boat in the dark whether the lights are on or not. It is too easy to see a light and not know if it is on a boat, a dock, or one of the many shoreline residences. This is especially true when it is a very dark night such as one with no moon to help light the water. It is obvious that the LCSO is using this as their defense for Perdock's reckless behavior and instead charging the sailboat operator for the meaningless offense of not having the running lights on. Whether or not they were on shouldn't excuse Perdock's extremely dangerous operation of his boat at a high rate of speed in the absolute darkness of Clearlake. Anybody who ever boated there knows what a stupid dangerous thing he did. If they are blaming Dinius, they should at least charge Perdock too - were it not for his actions, Dinius would have probably made it safely back to the dock and Lynn Thornton would still be alive today.

[DISAPPOINTED]

TO ANONYMOUS: You may be right that Perdock called dispatch instead of 911 and that may in fact have been the right thing to do. I'll give you that one. But that is where doing the "right thing" ends. Your explanation of the "lab mistake" with regard to the time Perdock's blood was drawn is laughable. PERDOCK WAS STILL AT THE SCENE OF THE ACCIDENT, ON SHORE, WITH SEVERAL WITNESSES INCLUDING THE WOMAN PASSENGER WHO WAS ON THE SAILBOAT & WHO WAS INTERVIEWED BY AN OFFICER. SHE SAID THERE WAS NO WAY THAT HIS BLOOD COULD HAVE BEEN DRAWN AT 11:30 PM BECAUSE HE WAS STILL AT THE SCENE AT THAT TIME & SHE SAW HIM THERE UNTIL AT LEAST 12:30 AM. Oh yeah...she's part of a big conspiracy, right? You are the moron if you believe it happened any other way. Haven't you noticed that 99.9% of the comments on this blog are NOT IN FAVOR of the spineless Mr. Perdock? Can you READ???? This whole story has stirred up a lot of attention to the cover up tactics that have long been going on with the Lake County Sheriff's Department. I find it very interesting that sooooo many people have had unbelievably bad experiences with them. You can think whatever you want, but let me tell you this - Perdock will be held accountable for his insurmountable stupidity and arrogance that resulted in the death of a wonderful person, who by the way, was also a Peace Officer & worked for the State of California for over 30 years. You must be related to Perdock or at the very least one of his cover-up buddies.

[Steve White]

I am repeating a post I made on another one of these blogs, so, sorry to be redundant, but the Attorney Generals office does nothing to supervise or punish any law enforcement in the state.

The California Constitution, Chapter 5 Section 13, makes the Attorney General the Top Cop, who has supervisor authority over all other law enforcement.

I want to say that again, supervisory authority over all law enforcement personnel in the state.

In other words, he can go into the Lake County DA's office, and tell everyone there what to do.

He can go to the Lake County Sheriff's office and tell everyone there what to do.

But most AGs, are like Bill Lockyer, who did nothing to supervise, because that can make you enemies, and he always wants to run for another office, so why risk making enemies?

These are the sad facts. Jerry Brown seems to continuing that policy.

People think there are checks and balances, review of bad prosecutors and cops. Maybe cops, to a limited extent, far less than the law says.

But prosecutors, who are in the brotherhood of the law shared by all the AGs and judges and most politicians? Basically, to get supervised, a prosecutor has to commit a serious crime which the AG can not ignore.

I complained about corruption in my local DA's office, and the AGs said "we can't prosecute him for that" I said, "How about just superivising and reviewing his actions? Like the lowest level employee in a burger joint, you don't send him to prison for making soggy french fries, but you correct the problem."

I hope I can make it to that hearing, I guess the AG will not be there, but maybe the news cameras will.

The

[R]

What an incredibly sad story this has become. A woman is dead and that can never be changed. Now, several high ranking officials and upstanding citizens have had their lives (both private and professional) thrown into the mud including the man charged with the crime. I am a former Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy who had the opportunity to work for Russell Perdock and Sheriff Mitchell, for approximately eight years of a fifteen year career. I have worked for several different law enforcement agencies, starting in the Southeastern U.S, to one of the largest sheriff’s department in N. California, ending with Lake County. Of the three agencies, the later was the most professional. This is not to say in any way that the agency did not have its problems, but those problems were consistent with agencies throughout the profession (Only magnified by the small size of this department).

I would like to address some of the armchair quarterbacks. First off all let’s address the gentleman who used the analogy of driving fifty miles per hour in the fog. Personally, and I feel that most CHP officers would agree, that if in fact a person was traveling at a high rate of speed in known poor weather conditions then they probably would be partly responsible for a collision. On that note and using that type of an analogy, lets replace the boats with automobiles and instead of a lake we will call it a highway.

Now vehicle #1 is traveling down the road at a high rate of speed and he crests a hill or rounds a curve just in time to collide with a vehicle (vehicle #2) which has been stopped in the middle of the road by an intoxicated driver and the driver has turned off the lights (or not). Who would be at fault? I bet the intoxicated driver. Now back to reality. Do I feel that speed played a role? Personally, yes I do, and I think that the DA was foolish to argue with a reporter about that (What happened to, “no comment”)? Now I would like to address the multiple comments that I have read about the “underhanded and deceitful-go-old-boys network. Again, I would point out that there are and have been “bad apples” in that department; none different from other departments. Whenever these persons or activities have been discovered, discipline was usually swift and harsh and those persons were let go. And NO, most of the members do not have more than twenty years on the force. I have always found it amazing that people have been able to comment about issues that they have no solid proof of (knowing someone who knew someone, does not qualify). I feel certain that the justice system will prevail in this issue and all of those responsible for this tragedy will have to deal with their fair share, be it a conviction, or a finding on behalf of the plaintiff in a civil suit or having to live with this memory for a long time to come.

[Can't We Do Something]

Why don't the people of Lake County have a recall of this joker in the District Attorney's Office? Enough is enough with this man. Let's get rid of him already.

[Judith Hamner]

I have personally known Bismarc Dinius for more than 15 years. He is a kind, caring, responsible person, that in no way would have anchored the boat, or run the boat without the lights. At one point in his life, he had to drop out of college, to take care of his Mom, stricken with cancer. How many of us have been out on the lake at night and watched boaters screaming past us? I cannot believe that he is being prosecuted for being run over by another boat. There is something really wrong with this picture.

[Steve White]

To the person who knows Bismarc Dinius - do you know if any of the witnesses thought Perdock seemed intoxicated? There has been an accusation that the blood test on Perdok was done 24 hours later.

Do you know if Mr. Dinius has his blood taken on the scene, and whether or not it was a breath test or blod draw? It would seem logical for all the parties who might be at fault, who agreed to it, to have samples taken by the same person, same time, not long after they go back to the dock.

It occurs to me a baot can leave the dock with the lights on, and then, someone on the boat accidentally turns them off when they are trying to turn on the cabin lights or some other part ofthe system.

I am not saying that is what happened, in fact, I guess it is not what happened, because a lot of the witnesses said the sailboats running lights were on.

But it can easily happen. A lot of people unfamiliar with boats do not at all understand it's not like a car where the driver himself has to screw up to not have the ligths on.

Can you tell us something else as an insider? Did they decide to charge Mr. Dinius to protect Perdonck from his civil liability>?

I find tt strange they waited so long.

[black]

DISSAPOINTED: you are so gullible to believe everything the media says. I WAS THE ONE WHO PICKED UP the people in the powerboat from the hospital around 12:30, which means Perdock had been there for a WHILE. he was NOT still at the docks I can promise you that one buddy.
Everyone here is missing part of the story. What about the law that says one cannot operate a boat under any influence of alcohol? Everyone on the sailboat was intoxicated. Thus, impairing their judgment to turn on their lights. I would have to say that they did cause most of the accident themselves. The court cases will go back and fourth, sure. However, the passengers of the powerboat do not in any way shape or form deserve to be sued. Its not their boat, they were not intoxicated, and they were not driving. And they definitely could not of prevented anything. Clearly neither boat saw the other one coming or I'm sure this would not have happened. This was a true accident but some people are getting extremely "sue happy".

[dani0]

I think that the driver of the sailboat is not smart to hire an out of town attorney. The only way to properly fight the good old boy network is to hire one of their own to broker the deal for you - dismissal or whatever. Not to make a big press show about it and make the arrogant district attorney dig his slimy heels in further. Not a wise choice. I live here and have seen this go down in better ways by smarter people charged with crimes.

[Jn]

I think the one who was really not smart about an attorney is Russ Perdock. He hired a divorce attorney. A really bad one at that. Maybe he just has really bad judgement about everything.

But, I have to say, both attorneys - for Perdock especially, but also for B.D. - should have had a sit down with their clients about not talking with the press. Perdock behaved like a fool on camera and then the phone calls later and the way he delivered his "no comment". Not good at all. Makes him look really, really bad. Should have hired a lawyer with some experience with the press at least. Could have avoided the negative spin by these reports and had a little dignity in the process.

[Marty C.]

I completely agree. Mr. Purdock, acting like a jackass on TV for the whole world to see. I always thought lawyers were supposed to prepare you for that sort of situation.