An alleged drunken driver side-swiped four cars Saturday night,
injuring four people, then barreled west on Hecker Pass Highway,
eventually hitting a telephone pole on Watsonville Road.
Gilroy – An alleged drunken driver side-swiped four cars Saturday night, injuring four people, then barreled west on Hecker Pass Highway, eventually hitting a telephone pole on Watsonville Road.
California Highway Patrol officers identified the driver as 26-year-old Bertin Sanchez of Gilroy. Sanchez was driving a 1997 Chevrolet Suburban westbound on Hecker Pass Highway at 10:33pm Saturday night when he hit four oncoming cars just west of Santa Teresa Boulevard, and kept driving. A moment later, after turning northbound onto Watsonville Road, Sanchez crashed into a telephone pole north of Honeycomb Lane.
“Based on the damage” to his car, “he hit it pretty square-on,” CHP Officer Brad Voyles said.
A CalSTAR helicopter air-lifted Sanchez to Valley Medical Center, where he was treated for internal injuries, Voyles said. Valley Medical Center staff were declined to provide information on the accident Monday, saying no one by that name had been admitted to the trauma center.
Four other people went to Saint Louise Regional Hospital, two of them transported by ambulance. Gilroy Police Sgt. Greg Flippo described their injuries as “minor to moderate,” ranging from neck pain and small cuts to swallowed glass. The victims’ names cannot be released, Flippo said, but they include a 10-year-old child and a 13-year-old child.
The CHP plans to charge Sanchez with driving under the influence, and may add hit-and-run charges after reviewing Gilroy police reports. The two agencies split the case because the hit-and-run took place in Gilroy, while the crash happened in CHP’s jurisdiction.
The incident sparked rumors that a Gilroy teen had been killed in the crash. Police and CHP spokesmen said the rumor was unfounded, and the county coroner’s office confirmed that no one was killed in a vehicle crash in Gilroy this past weekend.
