People v. De Casaus

• Decision Date: 18 April 1957
• Docket Number: Cr. 5665
• Citation: 150 Cal.App.2d 274,309 P.2d 835
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Victor L. DE CASAUS, Defendant and Appellant.

Page 835

309 P.2d 835

150 Cal.App.2d 274

The PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Victor L. DE CASAUS, Defendant and Appellant.

Cr. 5665.

District Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 2, California.

April 18, 1957.

Rehearing Denied May 13, 1957.

Hearing Denied June 12, 1957.

David Hearn, returning to Los Angeles from Phoenix, entered the freeway at Rosemead. His car was one of the four in the accident. He suffered a broken wrist, injured knee, contusions and bruises. His wife received a broken ankle, a severed tendon, a concussion and cuts on the face; their daughter's arm was broken, her face and arms cut; their five-year-old son received a broken arm.

Appellant's machine came to a standstill four feet from the curb on the westbound lanes. When the witness Jeffrey arrived, he approached appellant and called to him to stop, as the latter walked away saying he was going to see his brother. He could not explain the blood on his face but merely said: 'I don't know how this happened. They stopped suddenly and I had to drive over the divider.' Mr. Jeffrey returned appellant to the officers.

William L. Spackler, age 24, had been driving on the freeway toward Los Angeles when his ivory-colored sedan apparently collided with the Golden car from across the center divider. His body was seen by the witness Crook when it fell from his car. He had died from a two-inch wound in the neck which severed the jugular vein and carotid artery; a hemorrhage due to

Page 434

rupture of the spleen and liver; also he suffered fractures of the thigh bone and both collar bones, an evulsion of the left ear, five broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a pint of blood in pleural and pertioneal cavities. Near Spackler was the Golden family, except the body of Mrs. Golden which lay on the floor of her station wagon.

Officers Sillings and Miller perceived the accident at 8:47 p. m.; parked their patrol car; saw defendant with Jeffrey; looked at the horrible results of the accident; radioed for patrol units and ambulances. When they returned to the spot where they had left appellant, he had departed. He was walking up the shoulder of the eastbound lane, 25 feet away from the paved highway. Officer Miller ordered him to occupy the rear set in the patrol car. Appellant produced his driver's licenses of California and New Mexico. The odor of alcohol was prevalent. Sillings was of the opinion that appellant was under the influence of alcohol. He had no brother in that vicinity.

The officers scanned the premises in search of evidence of reckless driving. Officer Agatha found a single skid mark from one wheel, 141 feet long in the third lane going west. It veered slightly to the left. The highway divider, he found, is a raised barrier six inches high and ten feet wide dividing the freeway. Appellant told Agatha he was involved in the accident and pointed to his own machine across the freeway and said he was not sure what caused the accident; that he had had a couple of drinks at his office prior to leaving.

The proof was that it was not raining; the streets were dry; the weather clear, visibility good. Officer Agatha testified that there were lights enough to illuminate the roadway 'so everything can be seen clearly'; that the right rear wheel of Golden's station wagon was flat and there was expert proof that the break of the tire resulted from external force.

After the officers observed the strong odor of alcohol, they asked appellant to take the sobriety test. He willingly complied, but his responses were unsatisfactory. He pointed out to them his own car and stated that he was on the way to Albuquerque. When asked whether he knew that his automobile was in the westbound side of the freeway, appellant did not know. He said he had left his office; entered the freeway headed east; followed a group of cars; somebody hit him in the rear; he could not stop but swung to the left.

Officers Winkelman and Weimer visited with appellant and took him to the Angelus Emergency Hospital. He was moving his neck around and rubbing it. He told them he had had two Scotch and Sodas in a bar on Main Street near his office in Los Angeles. They advised him that in view of a definite alcoholic odor on his breath, it might be to his advantage to have a blood alcohol test to determine his blood's alcoholic content. By reason of the overcrowded condition at the Angelus, they took appellant to the Beverly Hospital. As they drove along, appellant repeated his statement about having imbibed two Scotch and Sodas at a bar on Main Street and remarked that they were at that time two blocks from the bar and would pass it. Officer Winkelman testified that as he spoke they were seven miles from Main Street, Los Angeles.

At the Beverly Hospital, Dr. Goff removed blood from a appellant's arm at 11:30 p. m. It was analyzed by DeLoss R. Paul, a biochemist, for the presence of ethanol. It contained 0.180 of one per cent ethyl alcohol by weight volume. Mr. Paul testified that when a person's blood contains above 0.150 per cent alcohol, he is under its influence and could not 'operate an automobile as an ordinarily prudent and cautious person.' In cross examination, he said, by the 'time anyone has a definite concentration in the blood, all people will react the same.

In August 1955 appellant's reflexes had been normal. On October 25, 1955, one month after the accident, he was treated for back strain and numerous contusions.

Appellant denied practically all the substantial testimony offered by the People; testified that after he had driven onto the freeway, he stayed in the center lane; traveled around fifty or 55 miles per hour; did not drive next to the divider, was in the center lane, the car to his left as he went into the turn turned abruptly in front of appellant, he slammed on his brakes; was hit in the rear and propelled backward. When the machine swerved, he came forward and fell out right at the center lane, 'I mean the eastbound shoulder.' He testified that his car never sideswiped any other automobile; did not strike any other vehicle; Jeffrey did not call him; he did not tell Jeffrey he had driven over the divider; he exercised reasonable care at all times.

The evidence proved that neither the rear of appellant's vehicle nor its bumper had been damaged. The left front fender was buckled into a 'V' shape. The impact was so severe that the left door would not open. The hood was pushed away from the body and up in the air. The witness Tobey introduced paint scrapings to prove that appellant's machine contacted the car of Hearn, and that the Golden station wagon had collided with Spackler's sedan, and Hearn's car hit the right front door of the Goldens' station wagon.

From the evidence and the inferences arising therefrom, it is abundantly established that appellant, while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, drove his automobile at grossly excessive speed along the freeway eastward from Los Angeles...