Crime & Safety

Murdered Man's Family Settles Lawsuit, Alameda Man Remains Incompetent to Stand Trial

Daniel Dewitt of Alameda was charged with the murder of Peter Cukor, 67, but was ruled incompetent to stand trial. The suit by Cukor's family sought reforms in how Berkeley police respond to calls for help.

The family of Peter Cukor, who was beaten to death outside his Berkeley hills home last year as he waited for police to arrive, has resolved a wrongful-death lawsuit against the City of Berkeley, according to a San Francisco Chronicle article.

Daniel Dewitt, 24, of Alameda was charged with Cukor's murder but was ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial and was sent to Napa State Hospital last year.

Cukor's widow and two adult sons resolved the suit after Berkeley police agreed to tell people calling for help that a police response might be delayed, the Chronicle reported.

According to earlier news reports, Cukor saw a suspicious trespasser, later identified as Dewitt, on his property shortly before 8:45 p.m. on Feb. 18, 2012.

Cukor called the Berkeley Police Department's emergency number to ask that an officer be sent to their home right away.

The lawsuit filed by the family said a dispatcher told Cukor that an officer would be sent to his home "soon" but alleges that the dispatcher acted "with gross negligence and in bad faith" because the dispatcher knew officers wouldn't respond.

R. Lewis Van Blois, the attorney who filed the suit on behalf of the Cukors, said that the Police Department had "plenty of officers" on duty that night but the department's priority was to have them monitor Occupy Wall Street protesters who were marching from Oakland to Berkeley.

Find out what's happening in Alamedawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Van Blois said an officer who heard Cukor's call offered to go to Cukor's home but was told by his superiors not to respond.

Van Blois said the Police Department has the right not to send an officer to a potential emergency situation but in Cukor's situation they should have told him they weren't sending someone immediately but if the threat continued he should call them back.

Find out what's happening in Alamedawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Van Blois told the Chronicle yesterday that Cukor family members did not seek money in their suit but wanted the Berkeley Police Department to improve its handling of calls for help.

Dewitt, a 2007 graduate of Alameda High School and the grandson of former Alameda city councilman and civic leader Al DeWitt, was arrested about a block from the Cukor home shortly after the killing. 

Dewitt has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and was repeatedly hospitalized and released prior to the Cukor murder, according to earlier reports.

His parents, Candy and Al Dewitt, are advocates for legal reforms that would compel seriously mentally ill and potentially dangerous persons to accept medical treatment.

You made read the complete San Francisco Chronicle article here.

Bay City News Service contributed to this article.

'Like' Alameda Patch on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter @AlamedaPatch / Share your thoughts in the comments section below


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.