http://iteamblog.abc7news.com/2009/08/in-memory-of-lynn-thornton.html

Thought I would re-post this since it seemed to get buried in the "Not Guilty" thread.

This is a travesty of justice... for Lynn Thorton who was killed, Bismarck Dinius and others who lost so much due to the negligence of Russell Perdock. The total lack of remorse from him is appalling. The acceptance of him by his community now is unreal.

Russell Perdock has won a seat on the Clear Lake City Council.

Remember him? He was the off duty sheriff who at high speed, ran over the sailboat killing one of the people aboard; Lynn Thornton. Then they charged the sailboat helmsman for manslaughter... http://www.boatus.com/seaworthy/justice.asp

Russell Perdock was never charged with the crime. Dinius was able to sue the city and got some compensatory money. Nowhere near what he deserved though. Dinius' Federal Lawsuit Settled

I was thinking about how Russell Perdock ever got away with this... and then remembered a similar (sort of) accident in San Diego a year or so later. A US Coastguard partol boat ran over a power boat during a night time event on the bay killing a young boy. The USCG guys were on duty... not drinking and simply were negligent in keeping proper watch when trying to respond to a call for help.

http://www.uscgnews.com/go/doc/4007...report-on-2009-San-Diego-boat-collision-

"Three Coast Guardsmen aboard the small boat were tried by court martial and found guilty of violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The (USCG) boat driver was found guilty of dereliction of duty, May 23, 2011, reduced in rank and sentenced to three months in the U.S. Naval Brig, Miramar, Calif."

Much of the two stories are similar, so it should be easy for the layperson to understand how wrong it is to speed at night in the dark. Maybe if Perdock had been on official business speeding to save a life... he should have only spent some time in jail and lost his job. But as we know... Perdock was never charged for the crime... was drinking... speeding in his personal boat at night... on a pleasure cruise... and still blames the sailboat driver for causing the accident.

I guess all we can hope for now is Karma for him and the other officials in Lake County that covered this up.

Word. Perdock must have some huge 'nads to run for anything.

typical politician, nothing is ever their fault and they are better than us

Nope, you only need 51% of the vote to win. 34% in a three-way race. Less if unopposed.

Stunning (not to mention disgusting) nonetheless.

Mike

This guy sounds like the kind of person, that if you called him an outright "killer", he would sue YOU for defaming his fine character and upstanding community reputation.