LAKE COUNTY ? No drivers were arrested in Lake County for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol during a maximum enforcement period for the New Year holiday, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The enforcement operation ran from midnight on Dec. 30 through midnight on Sunday. During that time, Clear Lake Area CHP officer Adam Garcia said there were eight crashes and three injuries, none of them DUI-related.
“Hopefully, that was due to people not drinking and driving, and maybe they got the message,” Garcia said.
However, the CHP responded on Monday to a crash that was believed to be DUI-related.
Garcia said Lucerne resident Erica Soto, 41, was driving west on Highway 20 near Harvey Boulevard in Lucerne when she failed to navigate a right curve and drove off the west edge of the road. Her 2000 Dodge Caravan rolled and came to rest on its wheels along the shore of Clear Lake.
Contrary to early reports, Garcia said the Caravan did not go into the lake. Soto was taken by ambulance to Sutter Lakeside Hospital with minor injuries. Garcia said CHP officer J. Bushey is investigating the incident, and believed Soto was under the influence of a controlled substance at the time of the crash.
