GILROY
– A Central Valley man who was allegedly driving under the
influence broke his neck in a solo motorcycle crash on state
Highway 25 Friday, one of eight DUI-related arrests made by the
Hollister-Gilroy area California Highway Patrol office this holiday
weekend.
GILROY – A Central Valley man who was allegedly driving under the influence broke his neck in a solo motorcycle crash on state Highway 25 Friday, one of eight DUI-related arrests made by the Hollister-Gilroy area California Highway Patrol office this holiday weekend.
The CHP said 56-year-old Frederick Granucci of Ceres, Calif. was traveling southbound on Highway 25 south of the Stonegate subdivision when, for unknown reasons, he allowed his 1999 Harley Davidson to cross the solid double yellow lines and into oncoming traffic.
The bike struck a steel paddle marker on the northbound shoulder, throwing Granucci into a field east of the roadway.
Granucci – who CHP officers said was not wearing a state-approved helmet – was treated on-scene and then airlifted to San Jose Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition with a broken neck and leg and arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. He remained in the intensive care unit Tuesday morning, according to hospital officials.
There were also 12 to 14 crashes in the local office’s jurisdiction, which stretches from Blossom Hill Road in San Jose to the Pinnacles National Monument. One crash caused the closure of three lanes of southbound U.S. 101 north of Coyote Creek Golf Drive for approximately an hour Friday when a car was destroyed by fire after being rear-ended. Officers said the intense heat also damaged the highway’s No. 2 lane.
Officers also recovered two rolling stolen vehicles, one involving a juvenile after a pursuit that terminated at the Blossom Hill off-ramp.
Statewide, the number of traffic deaths and arrests for drunken driving were higher this Memorial Day weekend than last year, the CHP said Tuesday.
From Friday evening to Monday morning, 1,454 people were arrested statewide for driving under the influence — up 7 percent from the same period last year, when 1,364 arrests were made, the CHP said.
That increase was likely due to extra officers deployed under a mandate to crack down on drunken driving, according to CHP Sgt. Wayne Zeise. Officers were also on the roads for longer owing to the 12-hour shifts they worked under the national orange-level security alert, Zeise said.
“The swing and the graveyard shifts are picking up more drunks,” he said.
During the same period, 28 people died on the state’s highways and roads, up from 20 last year. Twelve of the people who were killed were not wearing seat belts, the CHP said.
The stepped-up presence was planned through midnight Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
