Man pleads guilty in theft of security truck, terrorizing Bodega Bay
Sonoma County CA Dec 9 2020
Sonoma County prosecutors dropped attempted murder charges against a San Francisco software engineer in exchange for the man’s pleas accepting responsibility for striking three people with a stolen security guard’s truck while hallucinating on drugs during his 2019 vacation to Bodega Bay.
Betai Koffi, 33, is partly paralyzed on his left side, a result of his injuries when a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy shot him multiple times in the head after Koffi terrorized a seaside neighborhood July 4, 2019, on the Sonoma Coast.
“He’s glad that no one else was badly hurt, and he’d like to take responsibility and move forward with his life as best he can,” Koffi’s attorney Steve Gallenson said.
Koffi pleaded no contest last week to four counts of assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault on a law enforcement officer and vehicle theft, Gallenson said.
Officials at the District Attorney’s Office said the charges could bring a maximum sentence of 14 years and four months in prison. A judge is scheduled to sentence Koffi on Feb. 11, 2021.
Koffi was on vacation with friends at the Bodega Bay vacation home when a group of them took two doses of LSD, his friends would later tell authorities. Koffi took another two doses of the drug, then apparently began spiraling out of control, lashing out of his friends and claiming to be already dead.
He left the house on foot and wandered onto the property of another house, where he grabbed a landscape light and attacked a private security guard, according to sheriff’s reports and surveillance from the home.
Koffi took the guard’s pickup, driving through the neighborhood and plowing into three pedestrians, knocking them off their feet, sheriff’s officials said.
A CHP officer and sheriff’s deputy arrived, stopping their patrol cars near the security guard’s truck with Koffi at the wheel. The deputy’s body camera video showed Koffi began driving slowly and turning the wheel. Deputy Jason Pasero fired multiple rounds at him, and the vehicle stopped.
Gallenson said attempted murder requires intent, which he said his client was incapable of forming while so intoxicated.
“Fortunately, no one else but (Koffi) was hurt badly,” Gallenson said. “I think the District Attorney and the judge are both aware and taking into consideration the fact that he’s paralyzed on the left side and has a lot of deficits.”
Koffi was once a highly skilled keyboardist but now cannot use his left hand, according to his lawyer.
But he has returned to work as a software engineer and is “doing the best he can, still working and trying to get more ability to walk and to use his left arm.”
pressdemocrat.com
