On the day he was killed, Denver police Officer Bob Wilson shouldn’t have been at work.
But Wilson, an Air Force veteran who served in both Persian Gulf War operations, was concerned the force was short of officers on the streets that day and those working would be in danger.
So Wilson volunteered to work an extra shift Dec. 11, 2005, said police Lt. Ed Hall.
Later, after his shift, Wilson learned a fellow officer had run out of gasoline. Instead of going home, he decided to get gas for his colleague, Hall said.
It was on that errand a drunken driver, Joseph Jerome Santillanes, steered his pickup across the path of Wilson’s motorcycle. Wilson died of his injuries six months later.
Tuesday, Denver District Judge Catherine Lemon sentenced Santillanes to 10 years in prison. Several members of his family sobbed loudly as the sentence was announced.
During Wilson’s 12 years with the department, he received eight official commendations, 10 commendatory letters, two Distinguished Service Crosses and a Medal of Valor.
“He was an outstanding officer. He had a knack of being in the right place at the right time. He was a criminal’s worst nightmare,” Hall told the judge. “He was the officer the younger officers would turn to. His death was an extreme loss to the Denver Police Department.”
Santillanes had no felony record and no previous drinking offenses. Normally, Lemon said, probation plus some jail time might be appropriate. But in this case, she said, the impact was so devastating that the 10-year prison term was appropriate.
Lemon said Santillanes’ blood-alcohol level was 0.3, or “falling down drunk.” A blood-alcohol content of 0.08 is the legal threshold for a DUI.
“Mr. Santillanes, you obviously are not a terrible person and during the trial you showed genuine remorse,” the judge said.
Nevertheless, “what you did was a terrible thing and you have to pay a fair price for taking someone’s life.”
During the sentencing, Johnny Wilson, one of Wilson’s three sons, said he felt there was “no excuse” for the loss of his father and “people should be held accountable for their actions.”
Prosecutor Matt Wenig read a letter from Wilson’s mother, Sheila Wilson, who said that when she is lonely or misses picking up the phone to call her son, she holds onto the desert boots he left with his dad after the Gulf War.
“Somehow they were so much a part of him that they temporarily ease the pain and loss,” she said.
Santillanes, 42, wept throughout the hearing and apologized repeatedly to the numerous members of the Wilson family who were present.
“I’m so sorry. I’m just so sorry,” Santillanes sobbed.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
