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An SUV driver who collided with a 1960s Buick Riviera occupied by four young men and women in Menlo Park Sunday has been arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, according to Menlo Park police.
A solo man driving a small, four-door SUV struck a larger 1960s-era two-door Buick Riviera, which had four occupants in it, before crashing into a traffic signal pole at around 12:26 a.m. May 26, according to Menlo Park Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman.
By 12:28 a.m., firefighters were dispatched.
After striking the Buick, the SUV crashed into a traffic signal pole.
The collision to the rear of the Buick punctured the fuel tank, causing it to catch fire, and the vehicle ended up about 100 feet down El Camino Real, in front of the Mattress Firm store, according to Schapelhouman.
The four occupants stuck in the vehicle on fire tried to get out, but the doors were jammed shut from the collision. They pounded and kicked on the driver’s side door as the car filled with smoke, and were eventually able to get out.
Shortly after, the interior of the vehicle caught on fire. According to Schapelhouman, two of them sustained second-degree burns and injuries from the impact, and all of them had experienced smoke inhalation. Three later went to the hospital, police said. Firefighters extinguished the fire upon arrival.
The driver of the SUV, later identified as a 25-year-old man from Menlo Park, was taken by paramedics to the hospital for treatment of what police called major but non-life threatening injuries. Schapelhouman indicated they were injuries to his head and upper body.
Based on evidence at the scene, witness statements and observations by police, the man driving the SUV was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and causing bodily injury, according to police.
“This was a terrible vehicle accident that could have easily turned tragic if the four occupants of the Buick were unable to escape the vehicle or if it had ended up inside one of the commercial buildings that border El Camino Real,” Schapelhouman commented in a written statement.
For more information, access the police statement on the incident here.
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The intersection of southbound El Camino Real and Oak Grove Avenue, where a collision took place shortly after midnight May 26 that resulted in a car catching on fire and a DUI arrest. (Image courtesy Google Maps.) -
Menlo Park firefighter Ryle Fitzgerald uses a metal cutting circular saw to cut open the hood of a burned out 1965 Buick Riviera that collided with a small SUV at the intersection of Oak Grove Avenue and El Camino Real in Menlo Park on May 26. The SUV (silver four-door vehicle) can be seen crashed into the traffic signal pole. (Photo courtesy of Menlo Park Fire Protection District)
Best wishes to the victims. Was the perp drinking at a local bar before the collision?