Editor’s Note: In PoliceOne “First Person” essays, our Members and Columnists candidly share their own unique view of the world. This is a platform from which individual officers can share their own personal insights on issues confronting cops today, as well as opinions, observations, and advice on living life behind the thin blue line. This week’s feature is from PoliceOne Member Dave Hollenbeck, who served as a California Highway Patrol Officer from 1973 to 2001. Here, Hollenbeck recalls an incident in June when the temperature in Blythe, Calif. “was a relatively mild 110 degrees,” but that’s not where the heat came from. Do you want to share your own perspective with other P1 Members? Send us an e-mail with your story.
By Dave Hollenbeck
California Highway Patrol (ret.)
The thing Law Enforcers learn to dread and be paranoid about I experienced years ago.
I was a California Highway Patrol (CHP) Officer, working on I-10 from Blythe, California to 50 miles west of Blythe. Blythe has a climate that is very comparable to Iraq. Put the weather conditions for Baghdad and Blythe up on your computer screen and they will run neck and neck in temperatures and dust storms.
The CHP has a policy that cars stopped on the side of the road will be investigated, and if occupied, the occupants will be asked if help is needed.
On this day, I worked the 1400-2230 shift. It was in June, and the temperature was a relatively mild 110 degrees. At about 1500 hours, I see a car parked on the eastbound side, as I’m going west to Desert Center. In summertime, you carried 16 gallon jugs of water, and spent a big part of your shift putting water in over-heated radiators.
After turning at Desert Center, I found the stopped vehicle still there, now with the hood open. I pulled in behind, got out and walked up to the door. A man sat behind the wheel. A woman was laying over on the passenger side apparently asleep. I asked the man what was wrong. He got out and stumbled up to the front. His speech was mumbly, and very difficult to understand. The man — I will call him Bob — pointed out that he had purchased spark plug wired that were too long. They had laid over the exhaust manifold and had burned in two.
I asked Bob what he wanted to do. Did he want a tow? Did he want to go to the gas station about four miles back in Desert Center?
I briefly considered that Bob might be under the influence. But our local judge would dismiss a drunk in public charge, then it would become a false arrest, and I could be sued.
Bob eventually asked for a tow. I called the tow, Bob resumed his seat and I left.
About an hour and a half later, I had stopped up on an over crossing to write notes on a ticket and I saw a tow truck going east, towing Bob’s car from the back end. Bob was still behind the wheel of the car. I thought, “Bob, you are an idiot. That tow has an A/C that could freeze beef--and you are sitting ion your car, cooking”
About an hour later, I got a call “Report immediately to the Sheriff’s Office--DO NOT make any stops”
On arriving at the Blythe Sub Station of Riverside Sheriff, I was directed into a room with Bob, my Sergeant, a Sheriff’s Sergeant, a Sheriff’s detective. You could now tell that Bob has had lots of alcoholic beverage. He lights a cigarette, puffs a few times, it burns his fingers, he stands up and loudly states, “I demand to know what is going on!”
The detective would say, “Shut the F___ up and sit down.” Bob would sit, light another cigarette, and repeat the process.
I find out that Bob was observed being dropped at a motel. He got a room, went back to the car, got the woman out like a sack of potatoes, and carried her into the room. The motel manager had thought this to be suspicious. She had called Blythe PD, who came, went into Bob’s room and found the woman to be non-responsive. She had been rushed to the local ER, where a doctor pronounced her dead.
The woman had bumps and bruises, so the death and Bob were being investigated. Bob was released as there was not enough to hold him.
We (the CHP) were notified of the autopsy results. The woman had died of a combination of heat, valium, and vodka. She had taken the valium, and drank the vodka, and with the heat, it caused her heart to rupture.
About eight months passed. I had since transfer to San Diego CHP Office. My annual evaluation comes around. On this occasion, the officer is shown all that is in his/her file. (At the tme, the California Peace Officer’s Bill was being passed. Superiors could put anything in your file without your knowing it. Now, your superiors can not put anything into your file unless you have read it and signed on an edge)
There was a news article from the Riverside newspaper, with a headline blaring “WOMAN DIES AFTER OFFICER FAILS TO RENDER AID”
There was a report by the Blythe CHP Office Commander, Lt A. Wilson. He had been ordered by the Division Comander to:
- Read the article
- Investigate
- Take appropriate action on the officer (me)
Lt. Wilson had gathered all the documents concerning Bob’s passenger. The coroner’s report could not conclude time of death, so it was surmised that the woman COULD have been alive when I saw her.
It was found that the tow driver had in fact taken Bob and the woman back to Desert Center. Bob had bought a 6 pack of beer and started to climb into the tow truck cab. The driver told Bob, “If you are gonna have beer, you are gonna have it in your car”.
Lt Wilson had called in the tow driver. Lt Wilson asked the tow driver,” Do you remember seeing a woman in the cart?”
“Yes”
“What was she like?”
“Oh, she wasn’t too hot, but then she wasn’t ugly either.”
“No, what was she doing — what was her physical state — did she talk to you?”
“She was asleep so I didn’t bother her.”
I knew nothing about the aftermath for eight months, but the investigation had ended about three weeks after the date of the incident. My Lieutenant (smaller CHP offices had an Lt. as a commander) had concluded that if the tow driver believed the woman to be asleep, and not experiencing a medical emergency, then I could too. No action or censure was taken on me and I received no admonitions or directions regarding the incident.
Now, change the circumstances a little.
Take a commander who is looking for a promotion, and not to protect his subordinates. He could have not called in the tow driver, and just gone with the newspapers accusation. There would have been little I could have done to refute the paper’s accusations.
Knowing the legal climate from the time, I could have been charged criminally, and Bob would then have had a lawsuit on his hands.
