A Cal Poly student was arrested early Thursday morning, on suspicion of a DUI and seven counts of hit and run.
Shortly after midnight on June 8, the San Luis Obispo Police Department received a call from a concerned motorist who was following a seemingly drunk driver. The witness claimed to have seen a Ford Explorer hit two parked cars in the area of Monterey and Johnson.
When police tried to stop the driver, the Explorer hit an additional five cars on Buchon Street, according to the police department’s press release.
“There were no injuries,” Sgt. Janice Mangan said. “All the cars that were hit were parked, and (the driver) didn’t sustain any injuries.”
Eventually, the car stopped due to mechanical problems resulting from the collisions. The driver, 22-year-old agricultural business major Erica Lauesen, was determined to be under the influence of alcohol, and was taken to the San Luis Obispo County Jail.
Police are still uncertain as to whether Lauesen stopped voluntarily, or if the damage to her car forced her to stop.
“There’s really no way of knowing that for sure, but she didn’t pull over immediately,” Mangan said. “She did pull over eventually, when the car was disabled. It’s hard to say, but the car was definitely disabled when she stopped.”
However, Mangan said that to the best of her knowledge, Lauesen was cooperative after being pulled over.
Mangan added that serious cases of drunk driving do occur locally but finding the driver can sometimes be difficult.
“It does happen on occasion,” Mangan said. “We had an incident last week that was about the same number of cars. But, we actually didn’t locate the person, because there were no witnesses, since it happened in the middle of the night.”