CHP: Eight Arrested for DUI in Marin Around Fourth of July

California Highway Patrol officers were busier than normal around the Fourth of July holiday, a CHP spokesman said.

Between 6 p.m. Wednesday and 6 a.m. Friday, the Marin CHP officers arrested 8 people on suspicion of driving under the influence, with three of those arrests resulting from crashes, Officer Andrew Barclay said. In the same time period last year there were 7 total arrests, he said.

At approximately 10:56 p.m. on Thursday, July 4, Marin CHP officers were called to a solo vehicle crash on North San Pedro Road with a vehicle on its side, blocking the lanes. The driver of the vehicle was identified as a 17-year-old male who was not injured in the crash but who showed "objective signs of intoxication" and was arrested for DUI. Barclay said. 

"Marin CHP is also investigating reports that people were seen running from the vehicle following the collision," he added.  

The teen is being charged with two misdemeanor counts of DUI. "But, if it is discovered that the collision resulted in injuries to any passengers who fled, the charges can be elevated to felonies," Barclay said.

CHP officers also responded to two calls of injury collisions in West Marin in the early hours of Friday, July 5, including a solo vehicle rollover at Sir Francis Drake near San Geronimo Valley at approximately 12:20 a.m. and another on Point Reyes-Petaluma Road at approximately 4:30 a.m. 

On both occasions officers arrived on scene and discovered that the vehicles had been abandoned, Barclay said. The areas were searched for any parties who may have wandered away from the collisions but no one was found.