SR-25
02-23-2006, 08:43 AM
A California Highway Patrol officer accused of drunken driving testified he did not feel impaired by alcohol when he collided with a bicyclist in West Marin in June.
Denis Gallotti took the witness stand in the jury trial against him Wednesday. He is charged in Marin Superior Court with felony drunken driving and causing great bodily harm. If convicted, he could be fired and sent to state prison for six years.
When questioned by his attorney, Stephen Gallenson of Santa Rosa, Gallotti said he had gone to the Old Western Saloon in Point Reyes Station on June 5 to celebrate Western Weekend with local ranchers and fellow law enforcement officers.
Gallotti said he had four or five beers over the course of several hours, while he visited with friends and danced with several women. He said he did not think he was beyond the legal limit of .08 percent alcohol in his system when he got on his Harley-Davidson shortly before 6 p.m. to return to his home in Novato.
He said he was riding east on Petaluma-Point Reyes Road when he passed three cars, reaching a curve in the road. As Gallotti drove around the curve, he said he saw a bicyclist standing in the middle of the lane ahead of him.
He said he did not remember his distance from the bicyclist but said he had four or five seconds to slow down and try to avoid hitting the cyclist.
Gallotti said he decided to make a quick jog to the right but then the cyclist stood up and started moving his bike to the right. He could remember little else from that time until he woke up in the hospital.
The bicyclist, Samuel McMillan of Mill Valley, has testified he was standing a foot or two from the fog line on the road, when he heard a motorcycle roar up behind him. McMillan suffered broken legs and other fractures when Gallotti's Harley crashed into him as he tried to step to the shoulder.
When fellow officers asked him to take a blood-alcohol test at the hospital several hours after the accident, Gallotti said he reacted with disbelief, disappointment and shame when he learned his level was .09 percent.
Asked by Gallenson if he would have handled the road situation differently if he had been sober, Gallotti said he would not have.
"I think I still would have done the same thing," Gallotti said, noting that he has training in dealing with such situations.
"We are taught to avoid hazards? I don't know if I would have been able to do something different."
Asked by prosecutors how he felt when he left the saloon, Gallotti said he felt fine. "I felt what I considered to be normal," Gallotti said.
In earlier testimony, Lynne Veronda, who was at the Old Western with her husband, Anthony, said she danced with Gallotti twice during the afternoon and noticed no signs of intoxication. "The second time was right before we left," Veronda said. "We did a two-step dance."
A Marin sheriff's deputy and a paramedic testified that they had been at the scene of the collision and did not notice any odor or other signs of alcohol consumption.
Richard Sheehan, a paramedic with the Marin County Fire Department, said he held Gallotti's head while his colleagues placed him on a gurney.
"My concern at the time is that Mr. Gallotti had obvious trauma to his head," Sheehan said.
Sheriff's Deputy Karen Wofford said she had seen Gallotti at the Old Western about 5 p.m. while she and her partner were on duty making a bar check.
"There was no sign anybody was under the influence heavily," Wofford testified, saying she didn't notice anyone with slurred speech, odor of alcohol about them or staggering.
When she responded to the crash, Wofford said she went up to Gallotti on the gurney and asked him if he knew what had happened.
"He seemed dazed. He didn't seem to know where he was," Wofford said.
Questioned by prosecutors, Wofford said she did not smell alcohol on Gallotti but affirmed that the day was very windy and a helicopter with rotating blades was standing by. The case could go to the jury today.
http://www.marinij.com/marin/ci_3538885
Denis Gallotti took the witness stand in the jury trial against him Wednesday. He is charged in Marin Superior Court with felony drunken driving and causing great bodily harm. If convicted, he could be fired and sent to state prison for six years.
When questioned by his attorney, Stephen Gallenson of Santa Rosa, Gallotti said he had gone to the Old Western Saloon in Point Reyes Station on June 5 to celebrate Western Weekend with local ranchers and fellow law enforcement officers.
Gallotti said he had four or five beers over the course of several hours, while he visited with friends and danced with several women. He said he did not think he was beyond the legal limit of .08 percent alcohol in his system when he got on his Harley-Davidson shortly before 6 p.m. to return to his home in Novato.
He said he was riding east on Petaluma-Point Reyes Road when he passed three cars, reaching a curve in the road. As Gallotti drove around the curve, he said he saw a bicyclist standing in the middle of the lane ahead of him.
He said he did not remember his distance from the bicyclist but said he had four or five seconds to slow down and try to avoid hitting the cyclist.
Gallotti said he decided to make a quick jog to the right but then the cyclist stood up and started moving his bike to the right. He could remember little else from that time until he woke up in the hospital.
The bicyclist, Samuel McMillan of Mill Valley, has testified he was standing a foot or two from the fog line on the road, when he heard a motorcycle roar up behind him. McMillan suffered broken legs and other fractures when Gallotti's Harley crashed into him as he tried to step to the shoulder.
When fellow officers asked him to take a blood-alcohol test at the hospital several hours after the accident, Gallotti said he reacted with disbelief, disappointment and shame when he learned his level was .09 percent.
Asked by Gallenson if he would have handled the road situation differently if he had been sober, Gallotti said he would not have.
"I think I still would have done the same thing," Gallotti said, noting that he has training in dealing with such situations.
"We are taught to avoid hazards? I don't know if I would have been able to do something different."
Asked by prosecutors how he felt when he left the saloon, Gallotti said he felt fine. "I felt what I considered to be normal," Gallotti said.
In earlier testimony, Lynne Veronda, who was at the Old Western with her husband, Anthony, said she danced with Gallotti twice during the afternoon and noticed no signs of intoxication. "The second time was right before we left," Veronda said. "We did a two-step dance."
A Marin sheriff's deputy and a paramedic testified that they had been at the scene of the collision and did not notice any odor or other signs of alcohol consumption.
Richard Sheehan, a paramedic with the Marin County Fire Department, said he held Gallotti's head while his colleagues placed him on a gurney.
"My concern at the time is that Mr. Gallotti had obvious trauma to his head," Sheehan said.
Sheriff's Deputy Karen Wofford said she had seen Gallotti at the Old Western about 5 p.m. while she and her partner were on duty making a bar check.
"There was no sign anybody was under the influence heavily," Wofford testified, saying she didn't notice anyone with slurred speech, odor of alcohol about them or staggering.
When she responded to the crash, Wofford said she went up to Gallotti on the gurney and asked him if he knew what had happened.
"He seemed dazed. He didn't seem to know where he was," Wofford said.
Questioned by prosecutors, Wofford said she did not smell alcohol on Gallotti but affirmed that the day was very windy and a helicopter with rotating blades was standing by. The case could go to the jury today.
http://www.marinij.com/marin/ci_3538885