CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : MARTINEZ : Officer Penalized for Hiding Pal’s Ticket

A California Highway Patrol captain said he made a mistake when he didn’t process a speeding ticket issued to a friend. Capt. Val Daniels, head of the CHP’s Contra Costa office, has forfeited 45 days of vacation for his actions. “I used poor judgment,” said Daniels, 58, a 28-year CHP veteran. Daniels hid a ticket Feb. 2 that had been written earlier in the day to a friend, according to papers that CHP internal affairs investigators filed with the State Personnel Board. The friend had been going 75 m.p.h. in a 55-m.p.h. zone, the report said. After investigators began looking into the case, Daniels retrieved the ticket and it went through the courts, Daniels said. The CHP originally wanted to suspend Daniels for 45 workdays. But after he appealed, the department and Daniels reached a deal in which he dropped his appeal and the department allowed him to forfeit the vacation time.