CHP arrests include suspected DUI drivers with their children

A CHP officer conducting a traffic stop Sunday night on Highway 116 near Petaluma heard screeching tires and found a pickup heading toward him, the CHP said Monday.

The Ford F-150 driver swerved in time and just missed the officer’s patrol vehicle and continued on his way. So the officer ended the traffic stop and took off after the truck driver.

When the driver turned into a private driveway, the officer followed, CHP Officer Jon Sloat said in a news release issued Monday.

Driver Sean Hayden, 49, of Carmichael was driving his 12-year-old daughter. The man appeared to be impaired, failed a sobriety test and was arrested on suspicion of DUI and child endangerment. The girl’s mother was contacted and another CHP officer drove the girl to Fairfield to deliver her to her mother, Sloat said.

Hayden was one of 14 people arrested by CHP officers during the weekend, including several suspected of drunken or impaired driving with histories of DUI convictions.

About an hour after the Petaluma arrest, CHP officers arriving at a crash on Highway 12 at Highway 101 found one driver on the scene and one leaving, Sloat said.

The departing driver, Robert Melia, 38, of Petaluma was wanted on a $10,000 warrant for driving with a suspended license. His license has been suspended since 2005 for failing to complete a drunken driving program.

Officers determined Melia had a preliminary blood-alcohol level of more than three times the legal limit and arrested him on suspicion of DUI, driving while suspended and hit-and-run in the non-injury collision.

Also Sunday night, driver Cecilia Hannon was traveling with her 7-year-old daughter when she was stopped at 8:10 p.m. for weaving on Highway 101 near Golf Course Boulevard, Sloat said.

Hannon failed sobriety tests and was arrested on suspicion of having her second DUI in less than 10 years and child endangerment. Hannon was taken to jail and the girl was taken home to her father, he said.