People of California v. Cole Joseph Dotson
People of the State of California v. Cole Joseph Dotson
Heber, CA, a small town situated between Calexico, CA and El Centro, CA; it’s a town not very hard to remember, as I did two tours of duty with the U.S. Customs Service’s Offices of Investigations and Internal Affairs.
The car came speeding out of the Imperial County desert night, and Cynthia Cruz watched as it hurtled toward the intersection just a few hundred feet ahead of her.
“Oh, my God. It’s not going to stop!” she said.
She was right. In the next instant, she watched as the sedan sped into the intersection and broadsided a 1990 Dodge Caravan, Cruz told police investigators. The van and the sedan ended up in a drainage ditch, the Dodge resting on its roof.
The crash Cruz witnessed on Dec. 29, 2009, killed three women and injured two children in the van.
The collision might have faded in memory as another tragic highway accident, but in April the Imperial County District Attorney’s Office filed criminal charges against the sedan’s driver, Cole Dotson, a federal agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Local news media asked ICE for the name of the ICE agent and got nothing in return. Thanks to the California Highway Patrol, the ICE agent was identified as Cole Joseph Dotson. Also no pictures were allowed, a very strange of handling things for ICE. Remember Frank Figueroa, the former Assistant Commissioner for Investigations, getting arrested by local police for fondling and masturbating himself in fron of a teenager? http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1761772&mesg_id=1762351
Also remember the arrest of Richard Padilla Cramer who retired from his very high coveted ICE’s higher position in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico in 2006 to become a full time international drug smuggler? http://borderreporter.com/2009/09/ice-sac-arrested/
And last but not the least Gerardo Chavez, the grand scammer of all who at once in his early Customs career asked me if I had any contacts overseas. My reply was yes. Years later while already posted in Mexico City, did not even pick up to answer my call. Let’s meet the greatest scammer of all: http://www.fbi.gov/washingtondc/press-releases/2009/wfo021309a.htm
The case against Dotson, 37, is rare — a federal agent facing criminal prosecution for deaths of people that occurred while he was on duty. The last time it happened in San Diego was in 1998, when a Border Patrol agent was convicted of vehicular manslaughter and sentenced to one year in county jail.
In the Imperial County case, Dotson was driving a government-issued Ford Taurus at speeds of more than 100 mph seconds before the collision, according to a California Highway Patrol report. The car’s emergency lights and sirens weren’t on, the report said.
The report laid the blame for the crash squarely on Dotson because he ran a clearly marked stop sign at the intersection before slamming into the van.
His lawyer said the collision was a tragic accident — not a crime — and it occurred while he was monitoring a drug smuggler. This statement will not hold water in court since ICE doesn’t know who the drug smuggler is and Dotson had never the suspect under “monitoring.” Otherwise, he/she would not have evaded the other ICE units.
Killed were the van’s driver, Sandra Garcia, a 41-year-old mother of six who worked as a caregiver, and passengers Patricia Reyes, 47, and Maria Nieto, 49. Garcia’s 11-year-old daughter, Kattia, and 1-year-old daughter were seriously injured.
Grand jury doesn’t indict
Imperial County authorities have said little about the case. In January, prosecutors empaneled a criminal grand jury to hear the evidence, but the panel did not return an indictment. Only after that did prosecutors elect to file charges, 16 months after the crash.
Deputy District Attorney Wayne Robinson declined to discuss the case in detail or why it took more than a year to charge Dotson.
His status as a federal law enforcement official did not influence the decision, Robinson said. “The law has to apply to everyone, equally,” he said.
Rick Pinkard, a San Diego lawyer who represents law enforcement officers, said he wasn’t surprised that prosecutors first went to a grand jury.
“This is an uncomfortable charging decision, to issue three serious felonies against a law enforcement officer who was on duty and doing his job,” he said.
Pinkard represented John Henninger, the Border Patrol agent successfully prosecuted in 1998 for an on-duty traffic collision.
“It’s uncommon to reach the conclusion that an on-duty law enforcement member’s conduct rose to the level of criminal negligence,” he said. Unless Dotson had ample time to turn the wheel the other way, avoiding the fatal hit.
Agent on desk duty
Dotson has pleaded not guilty to three charges of gross vehicular manslaughter and two more of causing serious injuries to the children who survived the wreck. A preliminary hearing is set for Oct. 25.
He was allowed to remain free on his own recognizance and is working in an administrative position at ICE, an agency spokeswoman said. His lawyer, Michael Stone, said in an email that the crash “was an accident, any way it is cut,” and that prosecutors have over-charged the case.
Stone said Dotson was assigned to a drug interdiction task force the night of the crash and was involved in “high-risk rolling surveillance of a drug smuggler.”
The smuggler was spotted crossing the border on foot with a “large load of narcotics,” Stone said, then got into a vehicle that agents followed. If the suspected drug dealer crossed the Calexico Port Of Entry, and got into another car, then it is 6.1 miles away from Heber, CA. Then why not turn the red lights and siren?
A 250-page report on the crash by a CHP accident investigation team reconstructs the final moments before the crash. It is based on analysis from the scene and data recovered from recorders in Dotson’s vehicle.
The ICE officer was traveling north on Bowker Road, south of Interstate 8 just outside of El Centro, shortly after 7 p.m. He approached the intersection with East Heber Road, where Garcia was driving east in her van. This only means that Dotson never had the drug smuggler under monitoring.
Ten seconds before the crash, Dotson’s Ford sedan hit speeds of 108 mph on Bowker Road, the report said.
The intersection with East Heber Road is lighted. There is a stop sign for traffic on Bowker Road, and a sign warning cars to stop is posted about 725 feet from the intersection.
At that point, the report said, Dotson was going about 100 mph and lightly pressed the brakes for four seconds. Then, about 190 feet from the intersection, he floored the gas pedal in an attempt to get through the intersection before the van.
Realizing he would not make it, he braked at the last instant, reducing the speed of the car at impact to about 78 mph.
CHP says crash avoidable
CHP investigators concluded that if Dotson had hit the brake at the warning sign, he would have had “more than enough distance” to bring the car to a stop. Dotson has declined to be interviewed by the CHP, the report said.
The report said Dotson had an ICE radio microphone in his lap and a cellphone at the time, but it’s unknown if he was transmitting then.
Families of the three women killed in the crash have filed lawsuits in federal court against the U.S. government seeking millions of dollars in damages for their deaths.
Jim Frantz, whose firm represents the Garcia and Nieto families, said cellphone records may show if Dotson was on the phone when the collision occurred.
Family members of the victims have said they are frustrated that Dotson is out of jail and still employed by ICE.
“He’s out living a normal life pretty much when he should be in jail,” said Alfredo Garcia, the son of Sandra Garcia.
In its only statement on the incident, ICE has expressed its sorrow over the deaths. Garcia said he learned that from an ICE official about a month ago.
This is not the ending of this story. Any information regarding who this Cole Joseph Dotson is will be appreciated. Thank you!
INDEX
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/casdce/3:2011cv02932/372058/
http://dockets.justia.com/search?q=People+of+the+State+of+California
http://dockets.justia.com/search?query=People+of+the+State+of+California&circuit=9&noscat=13
http://dockets.justia.com/search?query=People+of+the+State+of+California%C2%A0&state=california
http://articles.ivpressonline.com/2011-07-12/car-crash_29766977
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