By Maeve Reston, Times Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times
Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times
All Rights Reserved
LOS ANGELES — On the eve of trial for the first state firefighter charged with a crime in an on-duty incident, Riverside County prosecutors today dropped a vehicular manslaughter charge against firefighter Michael Arizaga.
Prosecutors angered state firefighters when they filed the misdemeanor charge against Arizaga last year in the 2005 death of a crewmate.
Arizaga, a 10-year veteran, was driving an engine through a heavy rainstorm on a rescue call to a flooded house when the vehicle skidded.
The truck careened across three lanes of Interstate 10 and tumbled down an embankment— throwing Arizaga through the windshield and ejecting firefighter Christopher Kanton from the rear of the truck.
California Highway Patrol investigators determined that Arizaga’s failure to disengage a secondary engine brake system — which must be turned off in snow and rain because it can slow the engine too quickly — led to the accident and Kanton’s death.
The CHP also faulted Arizaga for failing to make sure Kanton was wearing a seat belt and for driving at an unsafe speed for the conditions — 45 mph in a 70-mph zone.
The 48-year-old Beaumont firefighter said the past year on administrative leave had been a “roller coaster.” He has been working part time as a marshal at a golf course.
The criminal charge, which could have meant a year in county jail, stunned him.
“I didn’t think anything like this would come about,” he said outside Riverside County Superior Court. “We’re still mourning the death of Chris Kanton, who in my eyes is still a hero ... It has taken a toll on me.”
Arizaga said he had drawn strength from the support of fellow firefighters, who routinely attended even mundane court hearings and pressed for the charge to be dismissed.
“They kept their distance but they believed in me,” he said.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Nikolaus Peterson, who requested the dismissal, said the district attorney’s office “carefully reviewed all the facts of the case. Based on all the facts and the law, we could not proceed.”
Michael Schwartz, Arizaga’s attorney, credited Peterson with convincing his colleagues not to go forward with what would have been a politically and emotionally difficult case.
“This was a tragedy two years ago, and it would have been a double tragedy if Mike had to stand trial for it,” Schwartz said.