CHP says deputy caused fatal crash

Brett Harris, 26, turned on siren about 1 second before collision with driver, who was injured

Riverside County sheriff’s Deputy Brett Michael Harris caused the collision in San Jacinto in 2023 in which he died and a civilian was injured by running a red light with almost no warning, the California Highway Patrol said.

Harris, who was remembered at his memorial service as an exceptional and compassionate deputy, was responding to a call when at 2:14 a.m. on May 12, the 2016 Ford Police Interceptor Utility he was driving collided with a 2018 Nissan Maxima driven by 54-year-old Thennetta Dorrough of Hemet.

Harris, 26, who was not wearing a seat belt, suffered a head injury and collapsed lung and died, the CHP report said. Harris was an organ donor, the Riverside Sheriff’s Office said.

Dorrough, who wore a seat belt, had minor injuries.

The CHP completed the 101-page investigatory report on the collision in December. The cause had not been publicly known until the Southern California News Group obtained a copy through a request under the California Public Records Act.

Dorrough told CHP investigators that she was driving to work at a security company in Bloomington, taking the same route she had for the past 16 years. She was driving north on State Street and entered the intersection with Esplanade Avenue on a green light when she saw the patrol car with its emergency lights on approaching quickly from her right side. She swerved to the left but could not avoid the collision, the report said.

A witness who was watching the intersection told investigators that she saw the patrol car approaching the intersection quickly without its

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