Tiffany Revelle
Staff Writer
LAKE COUNTY ? The California Highway Patrol (CHP) responded to a plethora of major traffic accidents, starting with one late Thursday and continuing throughout the day Friday.
The first happened close to 7 p.m. on soda Bay Road west of Stone Drive when a drunk driver hit a tree, splitting his car in half. Antoine James Ellis, 39, was arrested for driving under the influence after he was released from Santa Rosa Memorial, where he was flown from the scene of the accident with what turned out to be minor injuries, according to CHP officer Josh Dye.
Ellis was reportedly driving at a high rate of speed in a 1987 Camaro eastbound on Soda Bay Road, when because of his high level of intoxication he drove into an orchard and hit a tree. He was booked into the Lake County Jail for DUI and parole violations, Dye said.
An early Friday morning collision shut down northbound traffic on Highway 29 for four hours, according to Dye, while PG&E worked to replace a power pole that was hit by a delivery truck.
The truck ended up on its side and its driver was flown to Santa Rosa memorial hospital. A heavy duty tow truck was called to help recover the delivery truck while PG&E installed a new power pole.
Another collision occurred at Kit”s Corner at the intersection of highways 29 and 281 before that incident was cleaned up at approximately 11:30 a.m.
Another accident at 11:18 a.m. brought officers to the intersection of highways 29 and 281 at Kit”s Corner. Dye reported that a pear truck hit a Toyota Corola that pulled out in front of it from Highway 281 to turn southbound onto Highway 29. The driver was identified as Sabina Gotuacd of Daily City, 46.
Headed south on Highway 29, the pear truck veered to the right but was not able to avoid a collision, states Dye. A female juvenile passenger sitting in the right front of the Toyota was flown to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital as a precautionary measure.
Officers at the scene said the accident could have been much worse if not for the quick thinking of the pear truck”s driver, David Williams, 45, of Sacramento.
Officers then responded to a collision on Elk Mountain Road at 1:03 p.m. By the time they arrived all parties had left the scene, Dye reported.
On leaving that incident at 1:26 p.m., CHP officers responded to a two-vehicle crash on Highway 20 west of Clearlake Oaks. The crash blocked lanes of traffic but did not result in any injury despite initial reports of “unknown injuries.”
To top it all off, one of the CHP”s own was involved in a non-injury collision while enroute to the 1:30 crash above.
Dye writes that CHP officer Thompson was passing a BMW that had pulled over upon seeing the lights on his patrol car. The driver of a 1995 Ford Escort, headed the same direction, braked too late and swerved left to avoid hitting the BMW. The Ford ricocheted farther to the left after hitting the left rear of the BMW and hit the left side of Officer Thompson”s patrol car at a low speed, according to Dye. No one was injured.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com. To comment on this story or any others, look at the end of this story for “Comments,” fill in the web form, and the click “Publish”
