- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
District attorney releases preliminary report on fatal Oct. 3 crash involving deputy; deputy's name released
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The District Attorney's Office on Wednesday released a preliminary collision report regarding the Oct. 3 three-vehicle crash involving a deputy sheriff that killed a Clearlake woman.
District Attorney Don Anderson, whose office is conducting a joint investigation with the California Highway Patrol Northern Division's Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team, or MAIT, released the report on Wednesday afternoon.
The preliminary crash report identifies the deputy involved as James Scott Lewis, 53, of Lakeport.
Gabriela Rivas Garcia, 26, was killed in the crash. A third driver, Charles W. Eagleton, 66, of Lakeport, suffered minor injuries, according to the report.
A fund has been set up to help send the body of Garcia, who was from Mexico, home to her family. Donations can be made to the fund at Westamerica Bank, account number 0356061267.
Anderson said they did not have information on Lewis' condition on Wednesday. He had told Lake County News late last week that Lewis remained in the hospital at that point.
Lewis, who had reportedly been transported to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital via air ambulance with major injuries following the crash, was not in the hospital's care on Wednesday, according to spokesperson Katy Hillenmeyer.
Lewis was responding to a report of a home invasion robbery and pursuit in the Lower Lake area when he was involved in the head-on collision at approximately 6:21 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 3, according to the report.
He was traveling south on Highway 29 north of Diener Drive in his patrol vehicle, a 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe, at a high rate of speed with his lights on when he crossed the northbound lane, into the path of Garcia, who was driving a 1995 Honda, the report said.
Lewis' patrol vehicle and Garcia's Honda hit head-on, with the patrol vehicle overturning, based on the report. The rear of the Chevrolet then collided with the front of Eagleton's 1997 Geo, which had been traveling behind Garcia.
Altogether, Lewis has close to 30 years in fire and law enforcement experience, according to information he shared with Lake County News in an interview last year.
Born in Sacramento and raised in Woodland, Lewis worked first for a fire department before getting into law enforcement. He came to Lake County in March 2001 when he was hired by the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
To date, he has 21 years of service in the military, with 15 of those years as a reservist. In 2007, he was called up for a deployment to Virginia.
Lewis spent five years on that deployment, with his last position being in the protective services unit for the Defense Department secretary, working both with Robert Gates and Leon Panetta.
Lewis said Panetta gave him a Defense Meritorious Service Medal before he left to return to Lake County.
Lewis' crash occurred just days short of a year after he had returned to the Lake County Sheriff's Office on Oct. 7, 2012.
This past June, while responding to a civil standby in Anderson Springs, Lewis had been involved in a struggle with Yolpaqui Hernandez, who allegedly tried to take Lewis' weapon. That incident resulted in a responding CHP officer's rifle being discharged. No one was hurt.
Anderson said the CHP's MAIT team is doing the collision investigation and his office is doing the portion of the investigation pursuant to the Lake County Critical Incident Protocol.
The CHP told Lake County News last week that the final crash report is not expected until early next year due to the complexity of the work MAIT does.
On Wednesday Anderson said he doesn't expect to see that report until the early or middle part of 2014.
At that point, Anderson said he will use the report to finish his work and make his final conclusion on whether Lewis has criminal liability in the incident or if he should be cleared of any wrongdoing.
Regarding the alleged home invasion, three suspects – James Robert Conaster, 38, and Jesse Gilbert Moncivaiz, 28, of Clearlake, and Lauren Astor Faumuina, 20, of Middletown – were taken into custody the same day of the crash, as Lake County News has reported.
A fourth suspect, 28-year-old Angelita Jeanette Raffa of Clearlake, arrested on Oct. 10, according to the Lake County District Attorney's Office.
All four suspects are being held in the Lake County Jail, with bail for each set at $1 million, according to jail records.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.