A Hollister Police Department sergeant was cited for driving
under the influence after he was found with a flat tire Friday
morning on Highway 25, the California Highway Patrol reported.
A Hollister Police Department sergeant was cited for driving under the influence after he was found with a flat tire Friday morning on Highway 25, the California Highway Patrol reported.
Sgt. James Matthew Egan, 37, of Hollister, was cited for driving under the influence and released at 8:27 a.m. Friday at Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital, according to the CHP.
At 6:35 a.m. Friday, CHP officers responded to a call of a crash on Highway 25 south of Shore Road, the agency reported.
“It was a disabled vehicle,” said CHP officer Chris Armstrong, a public information officer for the Hollister-Gilroy area office. “We responded, but he had already been transported to the hospital.”
A San Benito County sheriff’s sergeant arrived to the 2003 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck before CHP officers, according to an arrest report. The pickup truck had a flat tire and was stuck in the mud, the report said. The sheriff’s sergeant sent the driver to the hospital as a precaution because of a recent, major surgery, officers reported.
A CHP officer then went to Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital to check on the driver, the report said.
“Upon contact, I observed objective symptoms of alcohol intoxication and conducted a DUI evaluation on the driver,” the officer wrote.
The officer placed Egan under arrest for driving under the influence but released him into the care of the hospital, the report stated.
Hollister police Chief Jeff Miller declined to comment Monday morning.
“I can’t talk about anything that could amount to a personnel issue,” Miller said.
Miller did say that when an officer is suspected, investigated or arrested for a crime, the department begins its own internal personnel investigation. Miller also said he would not comment on another agency’s criminal investigation.*
