Posted on 08/29/2017 6:12:11 AM PDT by csvset
UC Berkeley chief legal counsel dead in hit-and-run near Guerneville
By Rick Hurd | rhurd@bayareanewsgroup.com and Emily DeRuy | ederuy@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group August 29, 2017 at 3:47 am Westbound Highway 116 at Summer Crossing, west of Guerneville.
SONOMA COUNTY — A member of UC Berkeley’s legal team died Sunday after being hit by a car in a hit-and-run crash near Guerneville, authorities said.
The Sonoma County Coroner’s Office confirmed Monday that 59-year-old Christopher Patti, the campus’ chief legal counsel, died Sunday morning. He was stopped on his bike on the right shoulder of westbound Highway 116 around 8:45 a.m. when a BMW slid onto the shoulder and hit him, according to a statement by the California Highway Patrol. “I speak for the Berkeley community in saying how grief-stricken we are at Chris Patti’s untimely death,” UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ said in a statement. “He was an extraordinary colleague. He loved the university, and he had a deep core of integrity that motivated everything he did. He was smart, he was compassionate. He was everything you wanted the counsel of the campus to be. We offer our sympathy to his family and his friends for this tragic loss.”
UC Berkeley's chief legal counsel, Christopher Patti, was killed in ahit-and-run accident Sunday. (Alain McLaughlin/Impact Fund) UC Berkeley’s chief legal counsel, Christopher Patti, was killed in a hit-and-run accident Sunday. (Alain McLaughlin/Impact Fund) Patti joined the university in 2010. Before that, he worked for two decades in the general counsel’s office at UC’s Office of the President.
“Chris was a wonderful colleague and friend who cared about people and doing the right thing. He was an extraordinary lawyer to whom we all turned for advice and counsel. His loss is unfathomable,” Charles F. Robinson, general counsel and vice president of legal affairs with UC, said in a statement.
The CHP on Monday identified 28-year-old Jonathan Ritter, of Rio Nido/Monte Rio, as a person of interest. The driver of the vehicle that hit Patti continued west on Highway 116, then turned around and went back past the scene in the eastbound direction, the agency said.
Police want to find out if Ritter was driving the car.
Officer Jon Sloat told the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat that Patti was about 20 feet to the right of the highway, and that evidence at the scene indicates the vehicle drove fast and perhaps recklessly.
“He was well off the road,” Sloat told the Press-Democrat. “He should have been safe.”
Patti earned his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and his law degree from the University of Virginia. Before joining UC, he worked as a litigation associate in San Francisco. He is survived by a wife and two sons.
“Hit and run”, or a targeted attack? In a city with that many anarchists and fellow travellers, anything is possible. Condolences to his family.
Maybe he knew too much about Janet Napolitano’s UC System slush fund and got Arkancided.
I wonder how they got the suspect. The car drove fast and hit the guy (who was 20’ off the road and should have been safe) then turned around and drove back past him. Sounds like an intentional hit to me, and double-checking to make sure he’s dead, or left for dead.
I wonder if the dead lawyer was in any way involved with the Clintons or any of their cronies (DWS?).
At no point in history has any government ever wanted its people to be defenseless for any good reason ~ nully's son
Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!
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Damn bicycles have no right on the streets and highways with cars; I am sick of having to be scared of hitting someone on a bike who is meandering around the road.
Yeah but he was well off the road when he was hit.
Veddy intedesting.
That means to me that he was struck by a drunk driver who "meandered" off the road or was intentionally targeted for a hit.
I bicycle commuted in Seattle for about 19 years. I finally stopped because cell phones and texting made it just too dangerous.
I would not be surprised if that is what happened here.
Maybe this needs to be investigated. Did he feel the overreach of politicians? Did he want to allow Milo to speak and now he is eliminated? The Democrats have a long history of eliminating dissent and opposition through death. They, like hard line communists, allow no free thought or opposition within the rank and file. Either you tow the line, and you give up your life. The agenda of Democrats and Hard line communists has resulted in the greatest loss of life in this world in the last 100 years.
Yeah, he probably made a statement that conservatives should be able to speak and word leaked out.
That means to me that he was struck by a drunk driver who “meandered” off the road or was intentionally targeted for a hit.
He was 60 miles away from Berkeley at the time. River Road in Guerneville has lots of twists and turns. The victim was in a turnout well off the road. Many drivers are just selfish jerks.
8:45AM a tad early to be hitting the local wineries there. There are some good producers that come to mind, Simi for instance. This late in August, there may have been some traffic due to the grape harvest but less on Sunday that during the week.
Not sure where he would have been on Rt116. Kind of a bucolic area. There are some wide areas near the town of Guerneville but away from it, it can be a tad narrow for one to be 20 feet off the roadway.
Texters! A pox on them. I worked a music festival not too far from Charollesville,on the drive home we saw many drivers, eyes on phone, not on road. Hippy towing a travel trailer, started fishtailing side to side, sure enough, on his cellphone.
Guerenville is a long ways from Berkeley, so hard to believe it was a planned hit. But this IS weird...
“...Patti was about 20 feet to the right of the highway, and that evidence at the scene indicates the vehicle drove fast and perhaps recklessly.”
“He was well off the road,” Sloat told the Press-Democrat. “He should have been safe.”
The car turned around and drove past the carnage1 how in the world does a car veer 20 feet off the roadway?
I seriously doubt it is anything more than a coincidental hit and run. We go out on those roads in Napa and Sonoma and there are hundreds or thousands of Speedo-clad bicyclists riding on the roads which are two lane country roads with no shoulder whatsover. I personally wonder why they do it and am amazed that we don't see more mangled cyclists on twisted wrecked bicycles by the side of the road, which would be a ditch if they are off the pavement.
Bicyclists and residents of Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties are generally libs and enviros who are opposed to building or widening the roads in their picturesque countrysides, even if it would save their own lives.
I would also bet that the driver is a leftist. Why stop? He's probably dead anyway and there's nothing to be done for him. Utilitarian thought process.
Never too early for some Sonoma pot in that area.
“That means to me that he was struck by a drunk driver who “meandered” off the road...”
More likely a boy racer type who spun out. There are some seriously crazy drivers in those California hills. On both cars and motorcycles.
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