- UPDATE: CHP identifies the driver as William Charles Wright of Bakersfield
- 1 CHP officer and 2 juvenile CHP Explorers were injured in the alleged DUI crash
- Officials say Wright drove around a patrol car that had shut down NB traffic on Calloway and hit the car, which lurched forward hitting the three victims
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Updated information:
The California Highway Patrol has released the identity of the alleged DUI driver who drove into a checkpoint as it was being set up, crashing into a patrol car and injuring three people.
Officials say 42-year-old William Charles Wright drove around the closed-off portion of Calloway Drive on Saturday night and rear-ended a patrol car.
The crash's impact sent the car forward, striking one officer and two explorers helping to put up cones and signs for the checkpoint.
All three were taken to Kern Medical with moderate injuries.
Wright was given a field sobriety test and taken into custody on a felony DUI charge.
He has since posted bail.
ORIGINAL REPORT:
Original story:
Topping our news at 11, a CHP officer and 2 juvenile Explorers were injured on Saturday when an alleged DUI driver went around a barricade at a checkpoint and crashed into a patrol unit.
Officials say it happened just after 8 p.m. after officers closed off northbound Calloway Drive at Slikker Road, south of the railroad underpass near Greenacres Park and Fruitvale Jr High.
Sgt Robert Rodriguez said his team was beginning to set up the checkpoint when the suspect drove into the closed area.
" I heard the crash, I was driving the lead vehicle pulling the trailer with all the cones, and they were in the trailer pulling the cones out," said Rodriguez. "It's another example not to drink and drive, we were in the process of setting up the DUI checkpoint... there isn't an excuse, no excuse at all."
All of the injured were taken to local hospitals for treatment.
The driver was given a field sobriety test and placed under arrest.
Sgt Rodriguez tells 23, that in his 26 years on the job, it's the first time a DUI arrest has occurred before the checkpoint was set up.
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