CHP MEMORIES

After working in the Los Banos CHP Office for a couple of years, the Commander retired, and a new Captain was assigned to the area. In my years with the Patrol, there was always a certain amount of collective anxiety whenever a change of command took place. Not only was this Captain new, but he was young, with a wife and baby. His name was George Edgerton, and he made quite an impression on me. Part of his resume was filled with prior experience in the specialized field of accident reconstruction, and when he learned that I was like a sponge on the subject, he took me under his wing. When you promote to the rank of Captain, your days of investigating accidents are long gone, but whenever I, or another Officer had a complex investigation, he often got involved, and shared some of his expertise.

It didn't take George long to gain the respect, and admiration of the troops, and when I had the chance, I was soaking up as much of his knowledge as I could. He and his wife Kim, were quickly accepted into many of the office's after hours activities, and George wasn't afraid to tip a beer with the guys after a baseball, or basketball game. Having a young Commander was a new experience not only for myself, but for most of the Officers working in the Los Banos Area.

It was about 1977, when there was a fog related accident on Interstate 5, where multiple fatalities, injuries, and vehicles were involved. Upon arrival at one of these scenes, it's difficult to imagine an outcome, where you know exactly what happened. This particular accident occurred during heavy fog where visibility was only a few feet, and even after I was the first on the scene, vehicles were still crashing into the big pile of cars and trucks. If you want to talk about scary moments, try and picture the loud sound of crunching metal, without being able to see the picture! Unfortunately, these tule fog related, multiple vehicle accidents occur in the San Joaquin Valley, and when they do, there's no choice but to close the freeway. When I put out the call for lots of help, it took a few minutes for other Officers, and Cal Trans to shut off the flow of vehicles into the big pileup.

I'm not going to get into the details of the accident investigation, other than to say that there were 32 vehicles involved, and I had to try and figure out exactly what happened, and in what order. This was the first, and largest accident that I ever investigated, and initially, the task ahead seemed to be almost overwhelming. After several weeks, with the help of many co-workers, and Captain George, the investigation and report was eventually finished, and I was able to lift a huge weight off my shoulders.

I must have made a favorable impression on the Captain, because it wasn't very long after we had put this huge investigation to bed, that he and I sat down, and had a discussion about the future. The CHP Academy was offering a one week, advanced training class relating to determining speed from skid marks, and George wanted to send me to this specialized training.
This particular training was only offered once, or twice a year, and to say that I was happy to accept the offer, was the classic understatement. For several years, I had been improving my abilities in determining speed from vehicle skids, and this was an opportunity that only a few Officers got. The vote of confidence from my Captain was a huge boost not only to my ego, but it swung the door wide open to further career advancements in this specialized field of accident reconstruction.