Crime & Safety
Drunk Driving Suspected in Saturday Night's Double Fatality Crash on Hwy 12
Rohnert Park man, 30, rear-ended victims' car, arrested for suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and DUI.
By Bay City News
Two women were killed by a suspected drunk driver in a rear-end crash on Highway 12 in Santa Rosa on Saturday, a California Highway Patrol officer said.
At about 5:20 p.m., the women were sitting in the back seat of a Toyota Camry heading east on state Highway 12 when the car slowed in traffic and was struck from behind by a pickup truck, CHP Officer Guillermo Garcia said.
The impact obliterated the back seat of the Camry and pushed the car forward into a third vehicle, Garcia said.
The two women were pronounced dead at the scene. Two men sitting in the front seats of the Camry suffered moderate and major injuries, and two people in the third vehicle involved were not injured, according to the CHP.
The driver of the truck -- who was later identified as Nicholas Lee Tognozzi, 30, of Rohnert Park -- was not injured.
Tognozzi was arrested for vehicular manslaughter and suspected drunk driving, Garcia said. He was booked at Sonoma County Jail.
The emergency response to the crash, which occurred just west of Farmers Lane, shut down the roadway for nearly three hours.
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