DUI Incidents Lead to Injuries, Arrests Over the Weekend
Fresno – A 76-year-old man was arrested for driving drunk after he crashed into a police car Saturday evening. He was one of many arrested on charges of driving under the influence over the weekend.
Police received numerous calls around 7:25 p.m. on Saturday in regards to a possibly intoxicated driver near Belmont and Armstrong avenues driving around on two flat tires. The man, identified as Maly Maly, was driving on Belmont when he hit a one-way sign that cracked his front windshield, police said. Maly then turned on Clovis Avenue and started driving on the center median.
At the Tulare Avenue intersection, the driver put his car in reverse and hit the front end of a police car behind him. Maly ended up stuck in a flower bed, at which point police officers arrested him for driving under the influence. Maly was already on probation for another DUI charge when the incident took place.
Another drinking and driving related incident over the weekend left three Sanger women injured. The women were driving near Avocado Lake on Piedra Road at a fast speed when the driver lost control going around a corner. The vehicle ran off the road and rolled over several times, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Two of the women were taken by helicopter to Community Regional Medical Center and the third was taken by ambulance. The driver, who has not been identified, is expected to be arrested for driving under the influence causing injury to a passenger, the CHP said.
Other drivers who were drinking over the weekend were arrested thanks to sweeps and checkpoints by Fresno and Visalia police. Fresno police arrested six people on suspicion of driving while intoxicated on Friday night and early Saturday morning, and six more on Saturday night. Visalia police arrested four people during a DUI saturation on Saturday night.
Drivers in the Central Valley should expect to see more checkpoints and sweeps starting this weekend as local enforcement agencies launch “Avoid the 21,” which is intended to be a crackdown on people driving under the influence.
