Woman, 19, suspected of DUI in Highway 101 crash in Petaluma

Heading south on Highway 101 into Petaluma before dawn Wednesday, a drunken 19-year-old driver was swerving at high speeds through traffic and then crashed as a CHP officer attempted to stop her, according to the CHP.

A blood test showed driver Malina My of Santa Rosa had a blood-alcohol percentage of more than twice the legal ?.08 limit at the time of the 5:20 a.m. crash, CHP Officer Jon Sloat said.

She was driving her uncle into Marin County and was speeding down the highway into Petaluma when she came up behind a CHP patrol car, Sloat said.

“She comes up behind him probably at 90 (mph) swerved around barely avoiding hitting him, swerves around two more cars and goes into the center divider,” Sloat said.

The officer had put on his vehicle roof lights to start a traffic stop when she crashed into the concrete center divider. The Toyota Camry partially blocked the fast lane and wreckage debris littered the highway.

Her passenger, Loun My, 54, of Fresno suffered minor injuries and was taken to Petaluma Valley Hospital, where he was treated and released.

Traffic was fairly light when the crash occurred just south of the Petaluma Boulevard North offramp but it quickly backed up as the commute got underway.

The crash closed the fast lane, and while other lanes remained open, traffic backed up the Cotati grade to Highway 116 in Cotati.

My was treated for minor injuries and booked into the Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of two counts of misdemeanor DUI.

She remained in custody Wednesday afternoon in lieu of $10,000 bail.

“We’re just lucky she didn’t hit the patrol car and the other vehicles on the road. An hour later she would still have an extremely high blood-alcohol content and a lot more people would be on the road,” Sloat said.

The crash follows a series of suspected DUI fatal and injury collisions in Sonoma County since early November, including six deaths.

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