Countywide : Man Gets 7 Years in Assault on Officer

A Ventura man who assaulted a California Highway Patrol officer after wresting away the lawman’s gun was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison.

Dennis D. Agdeppa was described by Superior Court Judge Allan L. Steele as “solely responsible” for the May, 1991, incident, despite the defendant’s claims that he acted out of fear for his life. The incident would not have happened if Agdeppa was not using cocaine at the time, Steele said, and he called Agdeppa “the luckiest man I know of at the moment” because he survived being shot five times by a second CHP officer at the scene.

The incident began on California 150 between Ojai and Santa Paula when Agdeppa failed to pull over for a CHP officer who was trying to get past him to get to an accident, according to trial testimony.

When Agdeppa sped away he was pursued by Officer George Orozco. After a chase of several miles, Agdeppa veered onto side roads and abandoned his car.

Agdeppa grabbed Orozco’s weapon as the officer tried to handcuff him. When Agdeppa aimed the weapon at Orozco, he was shot five times by Officer Mark Rasmussen.

Orozco, who was present at the sentencing, said outside court that the incident made him so aggressive he feared at one time he might lose his job because of his behavior.

“I have a tendency now to be less believing of people,” said Orozco, who has been a CHP officer a little over three years. “I’m always very suspicious of everyone.”