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Bismark Dinius’ Federal Lawsuit Settled

We are thrilled to report that a Federal lawsuit brought by sailor Bismarck Dinius, now 45, has been settled in his favor. 

Regular readers will recall the bizarre case of sailor Lynn Thornton’s tragic death during a nighttime sail on Clear Lake on April 29, 2006. The boat she was riding in on that dark night, the O’Day 20 sloop Beat’s Workin’ II, was run over by a 385-hp speedboat driven by off-duty Lake County Sherriff’s Deputy Russell Perdock, who, witnesses claimed, was blasting across the lake at at least 40 knots — far too fast to see and react to any obstacles in his path. 

But while Perdock was never charged in connection to the death, Dinius was, simply because he had his hand on the tiller of the nearly motionless sailboat at the time of the collision. Debate raged over whether or not the little sloop had its running lights on.

In the aftermath of the incident there was a long and thorny path toward any sort of justice, with Perdock losing his job (and his wife), several of his associates being terminated, apparently due to mishandling of the case, and Dinius eventually being acquitted of all charges in August, 2009.

But Dinius claims the protracted legal battle caused him to run up hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, lose his job, and hyper-stress his family life.

According to the Lake County News, Dinius did not receive the $1 million he originally sought for punitive damages, violation of his civil rights, conspiracy and corruption, but the news organization notes that according to court records he did receive $210,000 from Perdock’s insurance carrier and Sacramento County, representing Lt. Charles Slabaugh, who assisted in the initial crash investigation. 

Read the whole story and you’ll see that the mis-management of the Thornton death investigation led to all sorts of additional lay-offs or firings, additional lawsuits, and former District Attorney Jon E. Hopkins, who prosecuted Dinius while refusing to prosecute Perdock, not being re-elected. The whole affair was an extremely dark and embarrassing chapter in Lake County’s history. Even now, eight years later, the stigma of alleged corruption and wrong-doing remains — especially in the minds of Bay Area sailors.  

2 Comments

  1. Vernon Huffer 5 years ago

    Perdock used his friends to help him to be police chief in Lakeport until public protest put a stop to that. Maybe he is a mall cop now. Hopkins should be disbared. Slabaugh was thinking blue when he wrote his report and should be retired without his pension.

  2. A. Harris 1 month ago

    Actually, Perdock ran for City Council in the city of Clearlake and won himself a seat. A short time later he was appointed Mayor. (I believe this was contrived to get him off the City Council, as the position of Mayor commands much less authority.)

    Friends of mine in local politics were also stunned with disbelief when he won the election and chalked it up to Name Recognition. However, Cronyism ran rampant in the county at that time, but it is a little better now, as the Good Ole Boys age and die out. Perdock stepped down from City Council when he ran for Clearlake Chief of Police (and, thankfully, lost).

    According to Transparent California, for several years, 10 out of 12 of the highest paid (including salary, pension, & additional wages) civil servants in the Cities of Lakeport & Clearlake, and Lake County (30 out of 36) are in Law Enforcement. The highest paid overall is Clearlake Chief of Police. I haven’t checked recently but have no reason to think that’s changed.

    I live in Kelseyville, and a young lady living with us at that time was the first witness to step forward. I spoke with Hopkins before the trial — he had called to speak with her but she was unavailable. He finally asked if I knew “which way she was leaning.” I told him what she’d told me: that it appeared to be an accident. That’s all. He did not use her testimony.

    I just want to say, on behalf of the citizens of Lake County, that the majority of us were outraged at Bismark Dinius’s treatment by our local judicial system. Perdock should be rotting in prison at this moment.

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This heron found an unusual perch. It’s not exactly a tranquil spot surrounded by nature, but it is shady.