Police: Petaluma man arrested after arriving drunk to police interview

The man was a suspect in a hit-and-run crash and was called to the station to talk to an officer.|
RANDI ROSSMANN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

A Petaluma man at the city police station to talk about a hit-and-run crash from the day before ended up in jail on a different issue - suspected drunken driving.

Richard Elwood, 68, was awaiting his morning police interview in the front lobby when the smell of alcohol tipped a front desk clerk he might be intoxicated, Petaluma police Lt. Tim Lyons said Wednesday.

Officers determined Elwood had driven to the station about 9:45 a.m. Tuesday while under the influence of alcohol. He was arrested and booked into the Sonoma County Jail, Lyons said.

Elwood had come to the station to talk to an officer about a hit-and-run crash Monday afternoon at the River Plaza Shopping Center on East Washington Street. A driver had hit another vehicle and left the scene, but a witness gave police a license plate number, leading to contact with Elwood and a request that he come to the station the next morning, Lyons said.

- Randi Rossmann

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