California prosecutors have declined to file charges against a sheriff’s deputy who struck and killed a prominent entertainment attorney and former Napster executive with his patrol car last year, according to a recent story in the Daily Mail.
Last December, Deputy Andrew Wood was allegedly distracted by his mobile digital computer when his patrol car drifted into the bike lane, running over cyclist Milton Olin Jr. in Calabasas. Olin was a 65-year-old attorney and former chief operating officer of the online file-sharing service Napster.
Prosecutors said in a letter cited by Los Angeles Daily News that because Wood was acting within the course of his duties when typing into his computer, criminal charges are not warranted:
“He was responding to a deputy who was inquiring whether the fire investigation had been completed… Since Wood was acting within the course and scope of his duties when he began to type his response, under Vehicle Code section 23123.5, he acted lawfully.”