Lawyer Says Police Altered Crash Report

A lawyer representing the family of an Oxnard activist killed when his van was hit by a speeding city fire engine said Monday that a police report on the accident had been altered.

An early version of the police traffic report conflicts with one included in the 105-page report detailing the accident that killed 48-year-old George Valle, said attorney Alan Templeman.

The original traffic report included boxes that were checked to indicate that the driver of the truck--veteran Oxnard Firefighter Timothy Linman--had been the primary cause of the May 8, 1995, accident because of excessive speed and inattention, Templeman said.

Oxnard City Atty. Gary Gillig was out of town Monday and could not be reached for comment. Assistant Police Chief Tom Cady said that because of the pending litigation he could not comment on the case.

But police sources said the final accident report was not altered.

They said that although boxes on the earlier version of the report form were checked indicating that “speed” and “inattention” contributed to the accident, those boxes were marked before the investigation had been completed. And they were not checked on the final report because the investigation showed that such a conclusion could not be made, the sources said.

Valle died of massive bodily trauma after his Ford Aerostar van was broadsided by a fire engine responding to an emergency call. The engine--with lights flashing and sirens blaring--was racing through an intersection on Oxnard Boulevard as Valle tried to make a left turn onto the street.

Templeman said the preliminary investigation indicates that traffic investigators believed that Linman was not using the proper caution when he approached the intersection, and that he was driving too fast.

The case is scheduled to go to court Sept. 22, Templeman said.