Repeat Drunk-Driver Arrested After Crash Near Forrestville

FORRESTVILLE (BCN) -- A repeat drunk driver was arrested Thursday near Windsor after he allegedly plowed into a row of mailboxes, fled the scene and then became combative when California Highway Patrol officers caught up to him, CHP Officer Jonathan Sloat said Friday.

Officers received a report of a hit-and-run crash on Laguna Road at Maryannis Road in unincorporated Sonoma County at about 5:25 p.m.

When they arrived, the officers found a 2003 Ford Windstar minivan that had struck a row of mailboxes and then got stuck in a ditch, Sloat said.

Witnesses told the officers that the driver of the minivan had attempted to get into a vehicle when another driver stopped to help and then fled on foot on Maryannis Road.

The officers found the driver, later identified as Jason Smith, a 39-year-old Windsor resident, sitting barefoot on the front steps of a home on Maryannis Road.

According to Sloat, Smith appeared highly intoxicated and began threatening the officers.

He allegedly refused to answer any questions or perform field sobriety tests, Sloat said.

The officers arrested him and he was booked into Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of drunken driving and misdemeanor hit-and-run.

Smith has two prior convictions for DUI and one prior conviction for hit-and-run, according to Sloat.

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