A Central Valley man who was allegedly driving under the
influence broke his neck in a solo motorcycle crash on state
Highway 25 last Friday, one of eight DUI-related arrests made by
the area California Highway Patrol office this past holiday
weekend.
A Central Valley man who was allegedly driving under the influence broke his neck in a solo motorcycle crash on state Highway 25 last Friday, one of eight DUI-related arrests made by the area California Highway Patrol office this past holiday weekend.
The CHP said Frederick Granucci, 56, of Ceres, was traveling southbound on Highway 25 south of the Stonegate subdivision when, for unknown reasons, he allowed his 1999 Harley Davidson to cross the solid double yellow lines and into oncoming traffic. The bike struck a steel paddle marker on the shoulder, throwing Granucci into a field east of the roadway.
Granucci – who CHP officers said was not wearing a state-approved helmet – was treated on-scene and then airlifted to San Jose Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition with a broken neck and leg and arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.
There were also 12 to 14 crashes in the local office’s jurisdiction, which stretches from Blossom Hill Road in San Jose to the Pinnacles National Monument in southern San Benito County.
No one was injured but the afternoon commute traffic last Friday was snarled as a result of a two-car accident on southbound Hwy. 101 north of Coyote Creek. The 4:30 p.m. accident May 23 caused three lanes of the highway to be closed for approximately one hour. A Ford driven by Noshir Watchha, 66, of Gilroy rear-ended a GMC driven by Ramiro Arellan, 38, of Gilroy. The Ford caught on fire. The Ford was totaled due to fire damage, and the number two lane of the highway was also damaged by the intense heat. No charges were filed.
A Saturday morning accident on southbound Hwy. 101 north of Cochrane Road sent a family to the hospital, some of them to San Jose Medical Center and some to Valley Medical Center, where they were treated and released.
Vu Anh Bui, 40, of San Jose, and his wife, Nga Bui, 37, and their four children were in their Lexus when Winnie Bing Yu Leung, 45, of San Francisco, veered from her lane, tried to correct and steered into their lane, colliding with their vehicle. Both drivers lost control. Leung’s vehicle stopped on the shoulder, while the Buis’ Lexus stuck the concrete center divide and overturned. Leung was not injured. No charges were filed.
Officers also recovered two rolling stolen vehicles, one involving a juvenile after a pursuit that ended at the Blossom Hill off-ramp.
Statewide, the number of traffic deaths and arrests for drunken driving were higher this Memorial Day weekend than last year, the CHP said Tuesday.
From Friday evening to Monday morning, 1,454 people were arrested statewide for driving under the influence – up 7 percent from the same period last year, when 1,364 arrests were made, the CHP said.
That increase was likely due to extra officers deployed under a mandate to crack down on drunken driving, according to CHP Sgt. Wayne Zeise. Officers were also on the roads for longer owing to the 12-hour shifts they worked under the national orange-level security alert, Zeise said.
“The swing and the graveyard shifts are picking up more drunks,” he said.
During the same period, 28 people died on the state’s highways and roads, up from 20 last year. Twelve of the people who were killed were not wearing seat belts, the CHP said.
