On March 16, 1999, Yuba County Deputy, Geoff Page,
was involved in a serious automobile accident while he was responding to
back up another officer. Page was traveling northbound on North Beale
Road in Yuba County. At the time, he was traveling "Code-2" at
a rate of speed that he estimated to be between 40 and 50 mph. The speed
limit on that section of North Beale Road is 35 mph. As he approached
the intersection of North Beale and Park Avenue, he noticed traffic was
slowing at the intersection. There is no stop sign or traffic signal
that would stop traffic at the intersection while traveling northbound
on North Beale Road. He proceeded into the left turn lane and entered
the intersection. As he entered the intersection, he noticed another
vehicle was forcing its way out into traffic on North Beale Road. Page
was unable to stop and struck the vehicle in the left front fender area.
Page suffered minor injuries in the accident. He then
received another shock when the department placed him on administrative
leave and later terminated him. The department alleged that Page
violated a number of policies related to pursuits. However, the
department based it’s termination of Page primarily on what it
determined to be Page’s excessive rate of speed at the time of the
accident. Following the accident, the California Highway Patrol
conducted an extensive investigation and completed a report. The CHP
concluded that Page was traveling at 68 mph at the time of the
collision.
On appeal, Page was represented by Paul Q. Goyette of
Goyette & Adams. LDF and Goyette retained the services of Kauderer
& Associates to recreate the accident to ascertain Page’s speed
just prior to the collision. Kauderer & Associates determined that
Page was more likely traveling at a speed of approximately 50 mph. More
importantly, Kauderer found a number of glaring mistakes in the CHP
report, especially in the speed calculations. Based on this information,
Goyette was able to successfully negotiate Page’s return as a patrol
deputy to the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department. Goyette stated,
"The moral of this story, is to never accept as accurate the
findings and conclusions in an accident report of this kind, no matter
how polished and lengthy it may be. By finding significant mistakes in
the report, we were able to attack the accuracy of the conclusions and
the department’s whole basis for terminating Deputy Page."
