GILROY
– Police found a half-full beer bottle and a can of beer at the
scene of a single-vehicle accident that injured four people at
about 2 a.m. Saturday.
GILROY – Police found a half-full beer bottle and a can of beer at the scene of a single-vehicle accident that injured four people at about 2 a.m. Saturday.
City police officers are investigating whether it was alcohol consumption that led the driver of the Mazda 626 to lose control, spin out and crash rear-end-first into a power pole on northbound Monterey Street – south of Tenth Street – in front of The Dispatch newspaper offices.
When emergency personnel arrived they found a 40-ounce beer bottle, half-full, and a tallboy can of Bud Light, and placed them on the hood of the wrecked car, while tending to the injured. All four were flown to San Jose trauma centers.
Details remain sketchy about the accident that resulted in major injuries to three passengers and minor injury to driver David Blanco, 36, of 175 Ronan Ave.
After being discharged from San Jose Medical Center, Blanco was booked into the county jail on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol – a felony since passengers were injured in the crash – and on a warrant for probation violation from a past DUI conviction.
Blanco went to court Monday afternoon in San Martin for the warrant, and Judge Susan Bernardini sentenced him to 30 days in jail. He is scheduled for arraignment on the new charge Wednesday.
“We are still determining the appropriate charges to file,” deputy district attorney Johnny Gogo said Monday afternoon. Since charges have not yet been filed, Gogo refused to share any further details about the wreck.
According to Gilroy police, witnesses said Blanco was driving at up to 80 mph and showing off by swerving side to side when he lost control of the Mazda 626, skidded more than 400 feet and crashed into the power pole.
One adult male passenger received a head injury, a 16-year-old male had both hips dislocated, and a 14-year-old girl suffered a broken pelvis, police said. Police did not release the names of the passengers.
The rear driver’s side of the car had a deep indentation where it hit the power pole.
Among a handful of bystanders at the accident scene, several said they heard the crash.
“It was going so fast,” said Brittany Shutt, 25, who lives across the street. She didn’t see the wreck, she said, but she heard the engine racing from a long way off, louder, louder – “Then it just stopped.” Then she heard a scream, “Somebody help! Somebody help!”
Ed Keller, a security guard, was making his rounds in his car when he saw a dust cloud from the crash. He drove over to investigate and called 9-1-1.
“The way the driver was laying, it looking like a DOA (dead on arrival),” Keller said. “He was in the vehicle, but his head was laying on the door frame.”
Peter Crowley covers public safety for The Dispatch. You can reach him at pc******@************ch.com or 847-7109.
