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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A Clearlake man was arrested Tuesday morning for allegedly stabbing his ex-girlfriend and a man in a homeless encampment.
Anthony Kropaczewski, 42, was arrested in the case, according to a report from Det. Ryan Peterson of the Clearlake Police Department.
Peterson reported that Clearlake Police officers on Tuesday responded to the area of Ray’s Food Place on the report of a male and female in a verbal fight. Witnesses reported that the female appeared to have blood on her face.
Once officers arrived they located a female, identified as 29-year-old Rachel Patterson of Clearlake, who advised officers that she had been stabbed in the stomach in the homeless encampment behind Ray’s Food Place. Patterson identified the person who stabbed her as Kropaczewski, her ex-boyfriend, Peterson reported.
Lake County Fire medical personnel arrived and transported Patterson to St. Helena Hospital Clearlake for medical treatment. She subsequently was flown via REACH air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital due to the injuries, according to Peterson's report. Patterson later was released from Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital after she was medically treated.
During the investigation, Peterson said police officers were advised by a bystander that a second possible stabbing victim was located in the same homeless encampment where Patterson had been assaulted.
Officers responded and located 31-year-old Clearlake resident Brian Fitzke. Peterson said Lake County Fire medical personnel responded to attend to Fitzke’s injuries, which were determined not to be life threatening and he was not transported to a medical facility.
Fitzke also identified Kropaczewski as the person who had stabbed him, Peterson said.
Kropaczewski was located and detained at his residence. After in-field lineups were conducted and statements from witnesses were obtained, Kropaczewski was placed under arrest for violations including criminal threats, domestic violence, assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a concealed dagger, according to Peterson.
With Kropaczewski’s assistance, the knife used in this incident was located and booked into evidence at the Clearlake Police Department, Peterson said.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is requested to contact Peterson at the Clearlake Police Department, 707-994-8251.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – An elderly Lakeport man had to be flown to a regional trauma center for treatment Tuesday night after falling from his sailboat and spending several hours in Clear Lake.
The 77-year-old man, whose name was not released, was found by paramedics in tules near Konocti Vista Casino’s marina at around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to Dan Copas, a firefighter/paramedic with Lakeport Fire Protection District.
About an hour before the man was located firefighters and sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the casino on the report of a subject in the water near the marina.
Copas said nine Lakeport Fire personnel, along with an engine and two medic units, responded to the scene to look for the man.
Copas said the man had launched his sailboat between 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. with his daughter’s help, then went sailing by himself.
The circumstances that led to the man falling into the water aren’t entirely clear, but Copas said the information emergency personnel received indicated that a rope on one of the boat’s sails broke and the man went to fix it.
From there, they aren’t sure if he was knocked into the water or lost his balance and fell, Copas said.
“He was out there for an extended period of time,” said Copas.
Just how long he was in the water wasn’t certain, but Copas estimated four to five hours.
The man’s daughter went looking for him, found him and tried unsuccessfully to get him into her boat, Copas said.
She then tried to drag her father’s sailboat to shore, which Copas said also didn’t work.
Next, the woman gave her father a rope and towed him to shore. Copas said she somehow managed to get 150 feet into the tules, near a tree. She tied a life vest in the area as a marker.
“So we ended up finding him in the tules in about a foot of water, lying down,” said Copas.
Copas and two others got out of the sheriff’s boat being used in the search and swam through the water and tules to reach the man.
It took them quite a while to locate the man, Copas said.
“We had to find our way to him because he was not visible from the water at all,” Copas said.
When they did find him he was hypothermic, Copas said.
Paramedics got the man to shore at Konocti Vista, and Copas said the man was flown by REACH air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.
There was no word on his condition Wednesday.
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LUCERNE, Calif. – A Lucerne woman whose vehicle collided with a motorcycle in Lucerne Tuesday night has been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.
Jolyn Jennifer Johnson, 31, was arrested after being treated at Sutter Lakeside Hospital for injuries she received in the wreck, which the California Highway Patrol said occurred at 8:45 p.m. Tuesday.
Johnson hit a 2003 Harley Davidson motorcycle ridden by Orland residents Bobby Glen Hendry Jr., 33, and Terra Noel England, 24, injuring both, the CHP said.
The CHP report said Johnson was driving her 2004 Infiniti eastbound on Highway 20. As she was making a left turn onto Oak Crest Avenue she pulled directly into the path of the motorcycle, driven by Hendry.
Hendry was unable to avoid the collision and the right front of Johnson’s Infiniti hit the front of the motorcycle, the CHP said.
The crash’s impact caused both Hendry and England to be thrown from the motorcycle and into the westbound lane of traffic, according to the CHP report.
Two air ambulances landed at Lucerne Harbor Park and transported Hendry and England to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for treatment of moderate injuries, the CHP reported.
The CHP said Hendry was knocked unconscious, and suffered a laceration to his left knee and abrasions. England had a fractured right arm, and complained of pain to her left leg and hip.
Johnson was transported to Sutter Lakeside Hospital where she was treated for neck and back pain, the CHP said. She subsequently was arrested for DUI.
The crash in Lucerne was one of two serious wrecks occurring in the county on Tuesday night, both involving allegations of driving under the influence.
An earlier crash near Hidden Valley Lake claimed the life of 19-year-old Leah Hernandez of Clearlake, as Lake County News has reported.
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HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – A 19-year-old Clearlake woman died and two other young women were injured in a single-vehicle crash Tuesday night near Hidden Valley Lake.
Leah Davidson Hernandez died at the scene of the wreck, which occurred just before 7 p.m. on Highway 29 north of the Spruce Grove Road Extension and Arabian Lane, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The driver in the crash, 23-year-old Nina A. Litzin of Clearlake, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, the CHP reported.
Hernandez was riding in the front passenger seat of a 1997 Chrysler Sebring convertible which Litzin was driving, with Tamara L. Davidson, 21, also of Clearlake, riding in the backseat, the CHP said.
The CHP investigation determined that Litzin was driving the Chrysler southbound in a reckless manner when she lost control.
A driver reported to the CHP that a vehicle was swerving behind them, attempted to pass and then went off the roadway and over an embankment.
The CHP said Litzin's Chrysler went off the west roadway edge, narrowly missing a guardrail.
The car continued down the embankment, hitting a tree and several rocks, before it rolled over and Hernandez was ejected from the vehicle, sustaining fatal injuries, according to the report.
The CHP said Litzin suffered a broken back and Davidson sustained minor injuries. Both were flown out to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital in separate REACH air ambulances.
Before she was transported, Litzin was placed under arrest, the CHP said.
The CHP said it's still trying to determine whether the women were using seatbelts.
The crash's exact cause also is still under investigation, the agency said.
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NICE, Calif. – On Tuesday several families that had been subject to tribal disenrollment several years ago were evicted from their homes on Robinson Rancheria.
Tribal member E.J. Crandell said about five homes were evicted beginning Tuesday morning.
The tenants evicted on Tuesday were tribal members disenrolled in late 2008, including Karen Ramos, Inez Sands, Robert Quitiquit and Reuban Want, Crandell said.
The home of Luwana Quitiquit, who had died in December, also was targeted for the eviction, according to Crandell.
Sgt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff's Office said the evictions were conducted by the Robinson Rancheria Police Department and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
He said personnel from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office were present during the evictions and acting in a support role only. Brooks said they were only on scene in case a crime was committed against the officials who were conducting the evictions.
Northshore Fire was staged in case of emergency, according to Chief Jay Beristianos.
District Attorney's Office staff also were reported to be on scene, Crandell said.
The disenrollments arose in the wake of a disputed June 2008 election during which Crandell challenged Tribal Chair Tracey Avila.
Crandell won the election, which he alleged later was overturned by an election committee composed of Avila's family members.
The tribal council, led by Avila, later would disenroll approximately 67 individuals, one of them posthumously.
An effort to evict the families began after the Bureau of Indian Affairs upheld the disenrollments. The tribal council formed a tribal court, which ruled against the five tenants in January 2011, according to court documents.
In documents associated with a federal court action the tribe brought against the tenants in August 2011, the tribe alleged that it was evicting the group for failure to pay a monthly administration fee as rent in violation of tenant agreements.
However, the tenants argued in their response that they resided in homes they contracted to purchase through a federally funded, low-income housing program, and that they were actually targeted because they had been disenrolled.
That federal case was dismissed, on the agreement of both parties, this past March.
Crandell said tenants were presented with eviction documents from the tribal court. He said the documents had not been presented to the group's current attorney.
The move comes less than a week before tribal leaders are set to meet as part of the Lake County Indian Gaming Local Community Benefit Committee to discuss giving grants from the Indian Gaming Special Distribution Fund – to which Robinson Rancheria and Big Valley Rancheria contribute – to local agencies. Both the sheriff's office and the District Attorney's Office have applied for those funds.
That meeting is set to take place at 9 a.m. Monday, May 14, in conference room B in the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
Last year, a dispute between Sheriff Frank Rivero and Robinson Rancheria resulted in his department getting none of the funds, as Lake County News has reported.
Avila, meanwhile, is scheduled to appear in court later this month for the scheduling of a preliminary hearing in a felony grand theft case against her.
She is alleged to have stolen more than $60,000 from the Elem Indian Colony of Pomo Indians in Clearlake Oaks while she worked for that tribe as a fiscal officer from February 2006 to September 2008.
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LUCERNE, Calif. – Three people were injured as the result of a Tuesday night crash between a motorcycle and a vehicle in Lucerne.
The head-on wreck was reported at about 8:45 p.m. on Highway 20 at Oakcrest Drive, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Both lanes of traffic were blocked as Northshore Fire Protection District firefighters and the CHP responded to the scene, radio reports indicated.
REACH and CalStar air ambulances responded, landing at Lucerne Harbor Park.
Two of the crash victims were subsequently flown to regional trauma centers, according to radio reports. A third patient was transported to Sutter Lakeside Hospital.
The CHP said the highway was reopened shortly before 9:30 p.m., with fire officials clearing the scene about an hour after the call was first dispatched.
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