The widow of a man killed in a motorcycle accident with an off-duty Lakewood police officer is asking a judge to appoint a special prosecutor after the district attorney’s office declined to file criminal charges.
Guy Petersen, 50, of Lakewood, died in September while en route to visit his father, Lori Petersen said Friday. He was turning left onto westbound Mississippi Avenue from northbound Wadsworth Boulevard when he was hit by a truck driven by Officer Robert Dethlefs, who was southbound on Wadsworth, according to police reports.
Several witnesses said Petersen had moved into the intersection from the left-turn lane while the light was green, and that he likely believed there was a break in southbound traffic when he turned as the light switched to yellow.
Dethlefs told investigators he was on his way home from work when he approached the intersection just as the light was turning yellow. The vehicle ahead of him in the next lane stopped, but Dethlefs said he would have had to slam on his brakes to stop, so he proceeded. He said he saw the motorcycle just before he hit it and tried unsuccessfully to swerve to avoid it, according to excerpts from the police report included in the motion.
Several witnesses to the accident, however, told police they saw Dethlefs speed up to get through the intersection after the light turned yellow.
One of those witnesses, 1st Judicial District Judge Jack Berryhill, said he thought the light for southbound Wadsworth had turned red by the time Dethlefs entered the intersection. Two other witnesses agreed the light was red, but at least six other witnesses said they weren’t sure whether the light was yellow or red, according to the motion.
Lisa Petersen and her attorney, Wade Eldrige Jr., believe Dethlefs received special treatment because he is a police officer. Petersen said she feels as if the city of Lakewood, where her late husband’s family has lived for more than 40 years, has let their family down.
“If my husband would have run that light and killed that man . . . he would be in jail,” she said.
Lakewood police spokesman Steve Davis said Friday he couldn’t comment specifically on the case because of the pending litigation.
But he said Lakewood police conducted an “extremely thorough” investigation. The case was then reviewed by the district attorney’s office, which agreed with investigators’ conclusions, he said.
Pam Russell, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Scott Storey, said she could not comment because their office had just received the motion.
Dethlefs could not be reached for comment, and his lawyer did not return a phone message.
The motion, filed in district court in Jefferson County, asks a judge to require Storey to appear in court and explain his reasons for not prosecuting Dethlefs and to either order Storey to prosecute the case or appoint a special prosecutor to do so.
