Driver arrested at Costa Mesa DUI checkpoint after hit-and-run collisions on 405 Freeway, police say

A police checkpoint led to the arrest of a driver suspected of hitting multiple cars on the 405 Freeway before exiting in Costa Mesa late Saturday, police said.

A woman driving a Toyota Prius with front-end damage was stopped at a DUI and license checkpoint after leaving the freeway in the area of Harbor Boulevard and Sunflower Street, Costa Mesa Police Department spokeswoman Roxi Fyad said Tuesday.

The driver showed signs of being under the influence of alcohol, and a field sobriety test was initiated, Fyad said.

Another driver in the checkpoint line told an officer that the Prius had been involved in a hit-and-run collision on the 405, police said. Police made contact with the Prius driver, and the California Highway Patrol was called and took over the investigation after arriving at 11:38 p.m., authorities said.

The first of four 911 calls came at 11:20 p.m., reporting multiple traffic collisions on the freeway, said CHP Officer Florentino Olivera. Four vehicles were hit, Olivera said, resulting in minor damage and no injuries.

Linda Jane Tran, 36, of Tempe, Ariz., was arrested just after midnight on suspicion of driving under the influence, Olivera said. She was cited and released, records show.

The checkpoint, which ran from 8 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., screened 700 vehicles and resulted in 10 field sobriety tests, two arrests related to driving under the influence, eight citations for driving without a license and four citations for not having a license, police said.

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