Calistoga man suspected of drunken driving dies after crash on State Route 128

CHP officers arrested a man for suspicion of drunken driving at a hospital shortly before he died of injuries sustained in a car wreck early Wednesday morning.

Officers found an empty and badly damaged 1991 Acura TL on State Route 128 near Spencer Avenue shortly after midnight, according to CHP. The car had veered off the road’s south edge and crashed into a tree and a power pole. The driver, though, was nowhere to be found.

Officers later determined the driver, a 26-year-old Calistoga man, had contacted a friend who picked him up and drove him to St. Helena Hospital. Officers went to the hospital and arrested the man on suspicion of DUI. He was airlifted to UC Davis Medical Center, where he died of his injuries later in the morning.

The man was not identified pending notification of his family, CHP said.

You can reach Staff Writer Andrew Beale at 707-521-5205 or at andrew.beale@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @iambeale.