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Volume 172 • Issue 95 | $1.00
mtdemocrat.com
Friday, August 18, 2023
Man who shot girlfriend gets 56 years Odin Rasco Staff writer
Photo courtesy of El Dorado Hills Fire Department
THIS IS JUST A TRAINING — The El Dorado Hills Fire Department and Pacific Gas and Electric Company joined forces to demonstrate response to a damaged gas line. This collaborative exercise also included participation of personnel from the Folsom and Cameron Park fire departments, El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office and the California State Firefighters’ Association.
Training time
EDH Fire’s new facility brings hands-on experience Noel Stack Managing editor
A
t the corner of Bertelsen Parkway and Chief Fry Boulevard two beautiful houses sit on a hillside. But these homes aren’t part of the latest El Dorado Hills housing development; they’re designs to be breached, vented and filled with smoke and water. After years of planning the El Dorado Hills Fire Department Training Center is ready to help firefighters get real–world experience in a variety of scenarios — whether it’s searching for a fire victim in a back closet or rescuing a fellow firefighter who has fallen while venting an attic. The department’s first major exercise planned Aug. 11 had firefighters teaming up with PG&E crews to go through
n See Heckley, page A8
Chase ends at El Dorado Road Krysten Kellum Editor
Photo courtesy of El Dorado Hills Fire Department
In the simulation a contractor failed to call 811 and a gas line was ruptured, leading to a leak and fire, above. Two burn homes stand ready at the El Dorado Hills Fire Department Training Center in the EDH Business Park, right photo.
n See Training, page A6
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A 29-year-old man who pleaded guilty to the murder of Placerville resident Monique Benavidez faced sentencing from Judge Mark Ralphs in El Dorado County Superior Court Monday. Brandon Heckley was sentenced to 56 years to life in prison, with a lifetime on parole if he is to ever be released from custody. The sentence was determined in accordance with a plea agreement. Ralphs shared that, though he felt the plea agreement was in the interest of serving justice, the term of Heckley’s sentence was less than he would have otherwise given. “This is a tragic, tragic case,” Ralphs said after sentencing. “As it has already been said, no parent should have to bury their own child. And no child should have to see their parent a victim of three gunshot wounds dying and bleeding out on the floor. Mr. Heckley, if I could give you more time, I would.”
Mountain Democrat photo by Noel Stack
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A Sacramento man suspected of driving a stolen truck on Highway 50 led California Highway Patrol officers in a 40-mile pursuit Saturday afternoon from Highway 99 up to El Dorado Road, where the vehicle was stopped with the use of a spike strip. CHP officials report that 41-year-old Dawn Dewayne Suggs was subsequently booked into the El Dorado County Jail on felony charges of vehicle theft and evading law enforcement officers with wanton disregard for safety. Inmate records show as of press time Suggs is held in jail custody in lieu of $165,000 bail. The pursuit began at about 12:55 p.m. just east of the Highway 99 and Highway 50 interchange in Sacramento, where a CHP officer spotted a white 2022 Ford F-150 that had been reported stolen, CHP officials told the Mountain Democrat. CHP officers switched on their patrol car lights and sirens, attempting to initiate an enforcement stop but Suggs failed to yield. Suggs headed east with law enforcement on his tail. A spike strip deployed by a CHP officer assigned to the Placerville area deflated the Ford’s tires and the vehicle came to a stop west of El Dorado Road in the highway’s center median, according to CHP officials. Suggs was taken into custody by officers without incident.
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