By Tony Hicks | Bay City News Foundation
Petaluma Police say a reckless driver hit a pedestrian, then smashed into a vehicle, a pole, and a tree, before punching a witness and kicking a police officer Saturday night.
The driver of the vehicle the man hit tried fleeing the scene and hit two other vehicles.
Police and fire units responded at 11:09 p.m. to the area of Kentucky and Washington streets for a traffic collision.
Once they sorted the mess out, police determined a 22-year-old man was driving a gray BMW northbound, approaching the crosswalk in the 100 block of Kentucky Street.
He accelerated, colliding with a pedestrian who was crossing the street in the crosswalk.
He continued northbound on Kentucky, collided with a vehicle at the intersection of Washington, veered off the roadway colliding with a pole and a tree. The vehicle he hit fled the scene causing a collision with two other uninvolved vehicles on Washington.
Police say witnesses tried to render aid to the BMW’s driver, who returned the goodwill by punching one of them.
Officers then tried taking the driver into custody and likely weren’t too surprised he was uncooperative. He allegedly kicked an officer and was arrested and placed into a restraint device.
Police said in a statement Sunday morning they believed the man was under the influence of drugs.
He was transported to a hospital, as was the pedestrian, whom police said suffered “non-life-threatening injuries.”
After the suspect was medically cleared at the hospital, he was booked at the Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of DUI causing an injury, hit and run causing an injury, battery, and assault on a police officer.
Police said, by 8 a.m., the traffic light at Kentucky and Washington still wasn’t working correctly, and they had no estimate as to when it would be fixed.
Source: www.mercurynews.com