People v. Maas

BARNARD, P. J.

The defendant was accused of violating section 148 of the Penal Code, it being charged that he removed from the scene of an automobile accident the driver of one of the cars involved therein, with the intent of obstructing a certain officer of the California highway patrol from discharging the duties of his office. This appeal is from a judgment after the conviction of the defendant by the court sitting without a jury, and the only question presented is as to the sufficiency of the evidence.

The only evidence before the court was a stipulation, which is as follows: “ . ... it is stipulated by and between counsel in this proceeding that on or about the 21st day of October, 1932, there was an automobile accident on North Main Street of Santa Ana or South Main Street of Orange, in which accident one Rolf Von Eekhartsberg was the driver of an automobile which collided with an automobile on said highway; that immediately following the said collision there were three children killed outright. The said Rolf Von Eekhartsberg was rendered unconscious thereby and that at the time and immediately before said collision said Rolf Von Eekhartsberg had been at the home of the defendant, Arthur B. Maas; that said Rolf Von Eekhartsberg was proceeding from the home of the said defendant, Arthur B. Maas, in a general northerly direction on said highway and was so proceeding at the time of said collision; that immediately following said collision, said defendant, Arthur B. Maas, proceeded in the same direction, stopped his automobile in the immediate vicinity of said automobile accident and took the said Rolf Von Eekhartsberg from the scene of the accident and placed

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him in the defendant’s automobile and took him to the home of the said Eolf Von Eekhartsberg in Glendale, California. Whereupon the defendant, Arthur B. Maas, called a physician where medical aid was rendered the said Eolf Von Eekhartsberg, the driver of the automobile in question; that at the time of said automobile accident there was riding with the said Eolf Von Eekhartsberg a man by the name of Curtis and another man by the name of Griffen, who received some injuries in the accident; that the said highway heretofore referred to in this stipulation was located in Orange county, California, and was a public highway in Orange county, California; that immediately following the collision between the automobiles heretofore referred to, one Vernon Barnhill, as a member of the California highway patrol, received a call and arrived at the scene of the automobile accident for the purpose of making an investigation pursuant to the provisions of the California Motor Vehicle Act, the time being about three or four minutes after the said defendant, Arthur B. Maas, had left the scene of the accident with said Eolf Von Eekhartsberg; that at all times mentioned in the information said Vernon Barnhill was a state traffic officer of the California highway patrol, being clothed with full power to perform all of the duties of the office to which he had been appointed by the director of the department of public works and chief of the division of motor vehicles, pursuant to the California Motor Vehicle Act and the Political Code of the state of California and, in order that this stipulation may be broad enough, that he was at all times a duly qualified and acting traffic officer of the California highway patrol and was on duty at that time and attempting to discharge the duties of such office, being stationed at Santa Ana, in Orange county, California; that at the time of the taking away of the said Eolf Von Eekhartsberg by the defendant, Arthur B. Maas, said Arthur B. Maas made no investigation with respect to the extent of the injuries sustained by the three children who were killed by the said accident, and, therefore, had no knowledge about the nature and extent of the injuries of the occupants of the Ford automobile, being the automobile in which the three deceased children were riding at the time of the accident and that said Arthur B. Maas did know, of his own knowledge, that the said Curtis and Griffen, being passengers in the