Opinion ID: 1801680
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Police encounter near Pythian Road: October 1, 1993

Text: Dana Jaffe lived with her 12-year-old daughter on a 192-acre parcel in Sonoma County, between Santa Rosa and Sonoma, on a rural hillside past the end of Pythian Road. From its intersection with State Highway 12, Pythian Road proceeds northward. At its end is a series of steep, curving, and narrow private roads, one of which leads to Jaffe's home. No Trespassing signs were posted on the private road leading to Jaffe's property, and her house was several hundred yards past a gate. About 10:45 or 11:00 p.m. on October 1, 1993, Jaffe arrived home from work and relieved her babysitter, Shannon Lynch. About 11:15 or 11:20 p.m., Lynch began driving away from the Jaffe residence and, while still behind the gate, she saw defendant's Ford Pinto wedged against an embankment and stuck in a ditch with defendant hunched over the rear bumper. As she drove up, defendant appeared surprised to see someone else on the darkened road. Lynch stopped her car and defendant approached. He had bad breath and body odor, with leaves embedded in his hair as if he had been caught in the brush, and he was wearing a dark-colored long-sleeved sweatshirt that was inside out. She asked what he was doing, and he replied, I'm stuck. I need some rope. When Lynch called defendant illiterate for not obeying the private road signs, he placed his hands on her window, told her to get out of her car, and demanded, What's up the road? Lynch remained in her car and told him there were people up the road who would call the police. She then drove off. Frightened and upset, Lynch quickly drove to the nearest pay phone and, at 11:24 p.m., called Jaffe, urging her to call the police about a scary guy on her hill. Concerned about being alone with her young daughter, Jaffe dressed and got into her car with her daughter. As they drove down their private road they saw defendant's car but saw no one on the road. Jaffe drove to a pay phone and called the police at 11:46 p.m. Some 15 minutes later, Sonoma County Sheriff's Deputies Mike Rankin and Thomas Howard arrived in separate cars and met Jaffe at the intersection of Pythian Road and Highway 12. Because the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department and the Petaluma Police Department used different radio frequencies, Deputies Rankin and Howard were unaware of Polly's abduction. Jaffe led the officers back up the road, where they found defendant leaning against his car, smoking a cigarette. Jaffe told defendant he was on posted private property. Defendant acknowledged the signs but claimed that he had tried to turn and had become stuck in the ditch. Leaves, twigs, and other debris were in his hair and clinging to his socks, and he was wearing a yellow-and-blue-striped long-sleeved button-down shirt. Jaffe told him the officers would help him and she went home. Deputies Howard and Rankin spoke to defendant, who smelled of alcohol and appeared to be sweating profusely. Deputy Rankin patted defendant down and noticed that defendant's pants were wet but his shirt was not. Defendant asked the officers, What the fuck are you doing here? and Rankin explained that the property owner wanted defendant removed for trespassing. Defendant claimed he was passing through the area from Oakland on the way to see a relative in Redwood Valley and had pulled off the roadway to do some sightseeing. He said he had tried placing dirt and brush under his car's wheel to get traction. The deputies, however, saw little indication of any dirt or other debris placed under the wheel. Deputy Rankin ran a check of defendant's license plate, but he transposed some of the numbers and did not notice that the car was not registered to defendant. Defendant said he was not on parole and had never been to prison. Although defendant smelled of alcohol, Deputy Howard did not think he was intoxicated based upon the deputy's observations of defendant's pupils, balance, and speech. During a consent search of defendant's Ford Pinto, the deputies found a paper bag on the floorboard with three or four unopened Budweiser beer cans as well as two bags containing clothes, some of which appeared to be torn. As the two deputies discussed ways to free defendant's car and made unsuccessful efforts to that effect, defendant became more relaxed. At one point, defendant opened a can of beer and began drinking it, but Deputy Rankin told him to pour out the beer. After borrowing a chain from property owner Jaffe, the two deputies pulled defendant's car off of the embankment and out of the ditch. While Deputy Howard returned Jaffe's chain, Deputy Rankin escorted defendant as he drove down Pythian Road to Highway 12. When both deputies drove onto Highway 12 from Pythian Road, they saw defendant parked near the intersection. At 12:46 a.m. on Saturday, October 2, 1993, the deputies cleared the incident with dispatch.