LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – An early Saturday morning crash at Indian Valley Reservoir sent two people to the hospital and resulted in an arrest for drunk driving.
The California Highway Patrol’s Clear Lake Area office said driver Thomas Michael Rores, 35, of Castro Valley was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol following the crash.
Rores, who was driving a 2008 Toyota 4Runner, was injured along with his passenger, 38-year-old Brian Sperle of Hayward. Two other passengers, Roderick Kreiss, 36, of Concord and Robert Zimmerman, 32, of Colfax, were not injured, the CHP said.
The CHP reported that the solo-vehicle wreck occurred at 12:20 a.m. Saturday in a remote area near Indian Valley Reservoir. CHP dispatch received a call about the incident minutes later.
At 2 a.m. emergency personnel located the Toyota Rores had been driving north of Highway 20 and east of Bartlett Springs Road along the reservoir’s northern shoreline, the CHP said.
Based on the crash investigation so far, the CHP said it appeared that Rores was driving in a northernly direction on a dry portion of the lakebed.
For reasons that are yet to be determined, Rores lost control of the Toyota and it began to overturn, the CHP said.
Rores sustained moderate injuries and was transported to Sutter Lakeside Hospital in Lakeport, while Sperle was flown by REACH air ambulance to Enloe Medical Center in Chico, according to the CHP.
Reports from the scene Saturday morning indicated that Sperle had broken vertebrae in his neck and had no feeling in his legs.
Lake County Jail records showed that Rores was booked on Saturday morning, with bail set at $50,000 for a charge of driving under the influence causing bodily injury. He later posted the required percentage of bail and was released.
Rores was not wearing his seat belt but all of his passengers were belted, the CHP said.
The CHP said the crash’s cause remains under investigation.
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