CHP: Windsor DUI suspect arrested following Highway 101 wrong-way crash

A suspected drunken driver drove into oncoming traffic on Highway 101 near Windsor on Saturday night and collided with another car before fleeing the scene, the California Highway Patrol said.

Melquiades Garcia Rojas, 29, of Windsor is believed to have driven south in a northbound lane of Highway 101, near the Arata Lane exit, at about 9:45 p.m., CHP Officer David deRutte said.

Authorities said he drove a Nissan Maxima. The car’s front driver’s side struck the front passenger side of a Nissan Altima coming from the opposite direction.

The Altima “went out of control across all lanes and collided with a guardrail,” deRutte said.

Windsor resident Laura Cunningham told The Press Democrat her 21-year-old daughter was a passenger in the Altima and the collision left her with a broken foot.

“She is not good at all, like at all. She has injuries and her foot is in a boot. She’s not good,” Cunningham said Monday afternoon.

Cunningham said her daughter was on her way home when the collision occurred. Though she is the owner of the Altima, it was being driven by her boyfriend, a 21-year-old from Santa Rosa, the woman’s mother added..

Cunningham rushed to the scene after getting a phone call from her daughter following the collision and took both victims to a local hospital.

“I was definitely scared. I was beyond grateful that they were both alive,“ Cunningham said, adding that each victims was treated and released from the hospital after a matter of hours.

Officials said Rojas continued driving after the collision until the Maxima broke down. The CHP found the car in the center median.

Windsor police found Rojas behind the Walmart on Hembree Lane, according to deRutte.

He was booked into the Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of DUI, hit and run, driving with a license that had been suspended because of a prior DUI conviction and violation of DUI probation.

Rojas was not listed in Sonoma County Jail records Monday afternoon and he could not be reached for comment.

You can reach Staff Writer Matt Pera at matthew.pera@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @Matt__Pera.