Resident struck by officer's car remains in coma
Results of CHP investigation expected any day
By Kyle Jorrey kjorrey@theacorn.com

Mark Weiler, the 26-year-old Simi Valley man who police say stepped in front of a department cruiser on Alamo Street on the night of May 15, remains in a coma at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills.

According to his stepmother, Gabrielle Weiler, an employee at Simi Valley Hospital, Weiler has been unresponsive since the night of the accident, when police allege he stepped off the center median into the path of a cruiser driven by Senior Officer Jim Buckley. Weiler had just rolled his own vehicle on its side in a single-car accident.

Buckley was less than a mile from returning to headquarters when he hit Weiler.

A California Highway Patrol investigation into Weiler's initial crash and his subsequent injury while on foot led officers to suspect alcohol was involved, according to Sgt. Mike Moriarty of the Moorpark CHP station. A full report by the CHP's MultiDisciplinary Accident Investigation Team into the cause of both accidents is expected early next week.

"The report is completed and now it's in for final review," Moriarty said.

Regardless of what answers that report provides about the night of May 15, Weiler, who said she's been at her stepson's bedside along with his father, George, every night since the accident, wants the public to know he is not a bad person.

"He's such a good, polite kid," she said. "If what the police say is true, it's very out of character. But it's still under investigation."

According to Gabrielle, Mark Weiler, a sleep therapist in Simi Valley, told his parents he was going to the movies to see the third installment of "Pirates of the Caribbean" the night of the accident. His father, she said, found a ticket stub in his pocket at the hospital after the crash.

The accident caused severe hemorrhaging in Weiler's brain, and his broken legs and arms took eight hours of surgery to correct, according to his friend Jennifer Lawson.

Weiler was transferred from Simi Valley Hospital to Providence Holy Cross, which has one of the region's only around-the-clock trauma centers.

Making the 45-minute trip each day to be at their son's bedside, the Weilers and their two other children are just beginning to deal with the difficult realization that right now there are no answers to their questions about his prognosis.

"The doctors aren't telling us much" about when he might wake up, Gabrielle Weiler said.

"It could be tomorrow, it could be a week, it could be a year, it could be never. That's the hardest part, just not knowing," she said.

Though Gabrielle said she harbors no ill will toward Buckley, she said she hasn't received any communication from the officer since the accident.

"A lot of people have told me they find that surprising," she said. "(Our family) hasn't heard anything."

According to police spokesman Sgt. David Livingstone, legal issues prevent the officer from speaking about the accident, even to Weiler's family, until the CHP investigation is complete.

"For (Buckley) to speak with anybody from the family prior to the CHP coming out with a ruling on the accident could bring up a conflict of interest in the investigation," Livingstone said.

"I do know (Officer Buckley) has gone through a lot. I'm sure for him it's not an easy thing either," he added.

Buckley, who joined the Simi Valley Police Department in 1997, was back on active duty within a few days after the accident, Livingstone said.