Posts tagged "hit and run"

Commerce Secretary John Bryson caused two car accidents in southern California over the weekend. Police are investigating the crashes and he could be charged with felony hit-and-run. The Commerce Department said yesterday that Bryson suffered a seizure, which is why he caused and left the scene of the accidents. He was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

It will be up to the district attorney's office to decide whether to charge him with hit-and-run after learning that the behavior was caused by the medical condition.

When drivers have been involved in an accident, sometimes their first reaction is to leave the scene. This may be for many reasons, but chief among them is when the driver has consumed alcohol prior to the accident and is concerned about being asked to submit to a field sobriety test and a breath test.

However, leaving the scene of an accident carries with it its own consequences, such as the additional weight of having to defend against charges of hit-and-run. As a result, leaving the scene of a car accident is generally not in a driver's best interest.

The Mercury News reports that on Saturday night someone inside the Mexicali Nightclub called the police to report that a person wielding a gun was attempting to enter the nightclub. When the police arrived they found two men at the scene who were already dead. Sunday morning a third body was found in a vehicle parked near the nightclub.

The Police have not yet determined the role of each of the deceased men or what other individuals may have been involved.  Though they are confident that the body found in the SUV is related to the murders outside the Mexicali. In addition to the three individuals that were killed a fourth person is hospitalized with life threatening injuries after the incident.

We have written in the past about the hard line California law enforcement takes when it comes to drinking and driving. This last Sunday morning, a 19-year-old Santa Cruz county woman found out about California's aggressive stance on DUI the hard way.

According to the California Highway Patrol, at about 8:10 a.m., she was driving her 2002 Mercury Cougar north on Highway 1, north of Watsonville just south of Buena Vista drive when her vehicle was hit by a black 1994 Dodge Ram van. Its front driver side sustained moderate damage. She pulled over and the driver of the van initially pulled over as well. The driver and two male passengers exited the van to check the damage, but then got back into the van and fled the scene.