Fatal victim in Petaluma crash was father of suspected DUI driver

A man killed in a suspected drunken driving crash Saturday in a Highway 101 crash in Petaluma was identified as the 66-year-old father of the driver, according to the CHP.

Teodulo Tovar of Lakeport died in the 11:40 a.m. crash in a construction zone south of Petaluma.

Driver Teodulo Francisco Tovar Jr., 29, was arrested at a Marin County hospital after a blood test showed he was driving under the influence, the CHP said. But he suffered life-threatening injuries and remained hospitalized in grave condition.

The son was behind the wheel Saturday, headed south, when he drove his 2002 Chrysler Sebring convertible into the adjacent construction zone and despite several signs warning the road was closed, traveled nearly two miles in the off-limits area before coming on a 30-foot gap in the roadway, careened off the pavement and ran head-on into a concrete abutment, said CHP Officer Jon Sloat in a news release.

Tovar Jr., was taken to Marin General Hospital. His mother, Veronica April Anderson, 57, of Lakeport, suffered serious injuries and also was taken to the Greenbrae hospital.

The driver told officers he’d been drinking and had smoked marijuana that morning, the CHP said. Officers got a search warrant for a blood test and at 3:40 p.m. arrested him on suspicion of felony drunken driving and manslaughter.

The Lakeport man is the fourth person to die on Sonoma County roadways in two weeks in suspected DUI crashes. The other victims, traveling in vehicles hit by suspected drunken drivers were a 21-year-old Sonoma State University student heading home from visiting her family and a 27-year-old Sonoma Valley woman and her 7-year-old daughter heading to school.

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com.