Two young children and an adult were injured in a two-vehicle
collision Saturday afternoon.
MORGAN HILL
Two young children and an adult were injured in a two-vehicle collision Saturday afternoon.
At approximately 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Tamera Cornelius, 41, was driving a Dodge Durango westbound on Barrett Avenue. She stopped at the intersection at Murphy Avenue, but then moved into the intersection, plowing into a Plymouth Voyager driven by Graciela Aguayo, 32, according to Morgan Hill police Cmdr. David Swing.
A 9-year-old girl who was in the Voyager was taken by ambulance for a broken arm and a laceration on her leg to Valley Medical Center. A 4-year-old and Aguayo were treated and released from Valley Medical Center after complaining of pain.
All of those involved were wearing seatbelts.
Cornelius, who had no passengers with her in the Durango, was not injured in the collision, Swing said, but she failed field sobriety tests and was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. Because the crash resulted in injuries, the charge is a felony, and Cornelius was later booked into Santa Clara County Jail.
“This collision could have been far more serious because there were several young children in the van,” Swing said Monday. “It was certainly a bad accident, but we are fortunate that it wasn’t worse.”
Swing said Morgan Hill police officers arrested 63 people for driving under the influence last year during the holidays, as the department participates, with other law enforcement agencies throughout the county, in the annual “Avoid the 13” campaign.
Avoid the 13 kicks off in mid-December and continues through New Year’s Day. But the long Thanksgiving weekend is also a time for additional enforcement, with many agencies conducting sobriety checkpoints throughout the weekend. MHPD officers arrested approximately seven people on suspicion of driving under the influence during the holiday weekend.
During the Avoid the 13, Swing said, extra officers will be on patrol and traffic officers’ schedules will be adjusted to focus on times when there might be more drunk drivers on the road.
