Suspected Drunk Driver’s Truck Lands on Top of Car, 4 Hurt

With Sheriff’s deputies in pursuit, a suspected drunk driver fleeing an accident wove through heavy traffic on Sunset Boulevard at 60 m.p.h. early Saturday and rammed his pickup truck into a barrier, sending it through the air and landing on top of a Cadillac, injuring four inside, authorities said.

The driver then jumped out and ran 100 feet before being tackled by a deputy. In the ensuing struggle, the suspect broke the deputy’s nose, knocking him unconscious before he was subdued by other deputies, officers said.

Arrested was Richard Valenzuela, 23, of Glendale. Valenzuela was booked on suspicion of felony drunk driving and felony hit-run driving, and held on $25,000 bail, Deputy Edmund Anderson said.

The incident began shortly before 1 a.m. in the 8600 block of Sunset Boulevard in the West Hollywood parking lot of the well-known Scandia restaurant.

Hit Parked Car

Anderson said the driver of a black pickup truck hit a parked car in the lot and drove away. A bystander hailed passing deputies who set out to stop the man, who headed east on Sunset Boulevard. In the chase, another car was hit. No one was seriously injured in those two collisions, officers said.

The driver of the pickup truck then struck the center divider at Sunset Plaza and the force of the impact sent his vehicle flying through the air about 50 feet and across two lanes of traffic, Anderson said.

“Our deputies were right behind him,” Anderson said. “They witnessed the car fly over the center divider.”

The truck came to rest on top of a Cadillac and Valenzuela again tried to flee, according to Anderson. “He gets out of his truck and starts running across the westbound traffic lane,” Anderson said.

Deputy Injured

“Our deputy, (Robert Hansen), jumps out of the car, tackles him and they are fighting on the ground with other assisting deputies,” he added. According to Anderson, Valenzuela punched Hansen in the nose and knocked him unconscious before being subdued and arrested.

The four people inside the Cadillac suffered injuries ranging from moderate to serious and were taken to area hospitals. The victims’ names were not released, but Anderson said the injuries were not life-threatening.

Valenzuela was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he received six stitches to close a cut in his scalp before he was taken to County Jail.

Meanwhile, in another early morning accident blamed on a drunk driver, three people were injured Saturday in a three-car crash in Boyle Heights, police said.

Booked in Jail Ward

One injured motorist was booked at the jail ward of County-USC Medical Center on a felony count of driving under the influence, police said. Another critically injured person was taken to the same hospital. A third person was taken to East Los Angeles Doctors Hospital after the 2:30 a.m. accident in the 3600 block of Whittier Boulevard.

Police did not release names of any of the injured.