Rene Michelle Castro
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY — Arrests for driving under the influence (DUI) commonly involve drivers intoxicated following consumption of alcohol.
Less frequent, but increasingly common, are arrests for those driving while stoned or otherwise whacked out of their right mind because they’ve ingested who-knows-what controlled substance.
Such appears to be the case in the events that transpired in a downtown commercial district parking lot in the City of Santa Maria late on the afternoon of April 9th.
According to Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, Santa Maria Police Department deputies and Santa Maria Fire Department units responded to a 911 Emergency call reporting a vehicle-pedestrian accident, and “found the female pedestrian trapped underneath a 2007 Toyota.”
Rescue workers extricated the hapless pedestrian from beneath the Toyota and promptly whisked her off to Santa Maria’s Marian Medical Center for treatment of unknown injuries.
Deputies contacted the driver of the Toyota, 43-year-old Santa Maria resident Rene Michelle Castro, and quickly determined that she was in no shape to be driving a car. A brief investigation ensued, whereupon methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia were discovered inside the Toyota.
With that evidence in hand, deputies then provided Castro with transportation to Santa Barbara County Jail, where she was booked on a charge of Felony DUI with injuries. Castro remains in custody with her bail set at $100,000.
Photo: Courtesy Ventura County Jail Booking
