Santa Rosa pedestrian hit by suspected DUI driver

A Santa Rosa pedestrian badly injured when he was hit by a suspected drunken driver Tuesday had been crossing a major westside road without the right-of-way, according to Santa Rosa police.

Wing Lau, 74, suffered head and body injuries that could be life-threatening, police said in a news release Wednesday.

Just before 1 p.m. Tuesday, Lau had started across Guerneville Road, heading south at the Lance Drive intersection. He was walking in the crosswalk against the pedestrian walk light when he was hit by a pickup truck, police said. Witnesses told officers the truck had the green light and was traveling below the speed limit west on Guerneville Road.

Police found Lau in the roadway and driver Moises Chavez, 57, of Santa Rosa, waiting at the scene.

Lau was taken by ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Talking to Chavez, officers suspected he’d been drinking, police said. Chavez failed sobriety tests, was arrested on suspicion of felony drunken driving and booked into the Sonoma County Jail.

The preliminary investigation indicated Lau was in the wrong as the primary cause of the collision but that Chavez’s suspected intoxication was a secondary factor, said traffic Sgt. Summer Gloeckner.

Officials asked anyone with information regarding the case to contact Officer Garrison Swartz at 707-543-3636.

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 707-521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter@rossmannreport.