Man arrested after truck collides with ‘multiple vehicles and homes’

Petaluma police said a local man was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving after crashing his pickup truck into “multiple vehicles and homes” near D Street Wednesday evening.

The Petaluma Police Department’s dispatch center began receiving calls about the incident shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday, with callers saying a truck had collided with parked cars and homes in the area of ​​the 12th Street and Grossland Way, police said in a news release Thursday morning.

Callers reported seeing the truck attempt to flee after each collision, police said. They even said the truck crashed into the same house twice and caused “significant damage” to numerous homes and cars.

When officers arrived, they found “a white Dodge pickup truck stuck next to a residential fence with significant damage,” police said. They also discovered that the driver, identified as Manuel Ramirez-Pablo, 47, of Petaluma, was passed out behind the wheel with the doors locked and the engine running.

“After several unsuccessful attempts to get Ramirez to unlock the doors, officers broke the passenger side window and arrested Ramirez,” police said.

Ramirez showed “objective signs of severe alcohol intoxication,” police said, and then allegedly drove at a speed nearly three times the legal limit. He was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving and numerous hit-and-run charges, booked into the Sonoma County Jail, and his vehicle was impounded.

“During the investigation, it was determined that Ramirez collided with several different cars over at least three blocks, one of which was occupied by a mother and her baby,” police said. Petaluma Fire Department personnel at the scene determined the child was unharmed and no injuries were reported.

Anyone with information about the incident is encouraged to contact DUI Enforcement Officer D. Hutchinson at [email protected].

You can reach editor Jennifer Sawhney at 707-521-5346 or [email protected]. On X (Twitter) @sawhney_media.