A driver trying to avoid a Sacramento police DUI checkpoint in north Sacramento on Friday night was hospitalized after he led police on a short chase and then caused an accident in an intersection, a Sacramento Police Department spokesman said.
The driver, a male in his 40s, drove into the checkpoint at Marysville Boulevard and Harris Avenue late Friday and tried to back out when he realized it was a checkpoint, said Sacramento police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong. He then led officers on a short pursuit before pulling over at Marysville Boulevard and Grand Avenue.
As officers exited their car, the driver accelerated his vehicle through a red light and was T-boned by another vehicle in the intersection, Leong said. The driver, a parolee, was extricated from the vehicle and taken to the hospital with injuries believed to be non-life-threatening, Leong said.
Occupants of the vehicle that had the right of way were not injured, he said.
Earlier in the evening, a car came through the checkpoint driven by a man smoking a lit marijuana joint and carrying a female passenger who was holding an open bottle of champagne in her lap, Leong said. The driver was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and narcotics, and the passenger was cited for the open alcoholic container, Leong said.
Also, through the first three hours of the checkpoint, officers had seen three drivers get out of their vehicles, lock them and walk away to avoid driving through the checkpoint, Leong said.
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