Lake County Sheriff's Deputy Dies After Responding To Fight Call
LAKEPORT (CBS SF) -- A Lake County Sheriff's deputy died in a SUV crash Tuesday night after responding to a trouble call in Lakeport, authorities said.
Lake County Sheriff's units were called to Lakeport at 7:55 p.m. to assist local police who were responding to a call of a fight involving several individuals in front of a residence on Healton Circle.
The deputies took 21-year-old Alex Michael Castillo into custody after he fled the fight into a nearby woods. Castillo physically resisted deputies as they took him into custody and they were forced to use a taser to subdue him.
Castillo was placed under arrest on two domestic violence counts.
Shortly after police and sheriff's units cleared the scene, a sheriff's patrol SUV struck a tree on Hartley Road north of 20th Street. Deputies and paramedics quickly were on the scene to assist the deputy. Unfortunately, he did not survive.
Authorities said it was believed that the deputy suffered some type of medical emergency while driving just prior to the crash.
A sheriff's department identified the deputy as 50-year-old Robert "Rob" Rumfelt.
Rumfelt started his law enforcement career as a police officer with the Lakeport Police Department in 1997. He left the police department in 2006 to work as a private contractor overseas conducting law enforcement training.
He returned to Lake County and was hired as a deputy sheriff with the Lake County Sheriff's Office in 2014.
Rumfelt was also active in the community as an assistant football coach at Clear Lake High School. He is survived by his wife, Kelly; daughters, Brittany and Nicole; sister, Amy; parents Leslie and Robert "Bob" Rumfelt, mother Juanita Dixon.
