Hemt News Tuesday March 22 2005 Driver "Swerving All Over'

Hemet say a man was injured after hitting two parked cars and driving with his hood up.

by Kenny Klein The Riverside Entrprise

Hemet--It didn't take long for Hemet Police Capt. James Waters to find a suspected drunken driver police say plowed into two parked cars, a tree, a fence and a bus Sunday night.

Waters said the motorist and his mangled Saturn were easy to spot near the corner of Eaton and Palm avenues about l0:40 p.m. "When he passed me, the hood of the car was sticking straight up, the air bags were fluttering in the wind and the windsheild was caved in from the two prior crashes," Waters said Monday. "He was driving blind."

The driver, a 21 year old Hemet man who was in serious condition Monday at Riverside County Regional Medical center in Moreno Valley, had smashed into parked cars on North Yale Street and Chino Lane, police said.

Police expect to recommend that prosecuters charge the man with drunken driving and hit-and-run related offenses. Hemet police Sgt. Jeff Pinney said Monday.

After those crashes, a witness gave police the car's license plate. The car's registration returned police to the area of Eaton and Palm avenues, where Waters and other officers tried to pull over an erratic driver.

The motorist would not stop and continued at speeds of 40 mph, Waters said. He drove through a fence at Lyon and Eaton avenues, Waters said.

" He was bouncing from side walk to sidewalk and swerving all over," Pinney said.

The motorist stopped aout l0:50 p.m. in the 2800 block of Eaton Avenue, when he struck a Golden Era Productions passenger bus head-on, Pinney said. None of the 48 passengers was hurt because the bus had stopped.

"We are sure lucky nobody was killed," Pinney said. Reach Kenny Klein at 95l-763-3466 or Kklein@pe.com

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