A Newhall man could face jail time after his recovery from serious injuries, according to the court record from a recent Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station DUI investigation.
The 22-year-old driver was the vehicle’s sole occupant, and now the subject of a station investigation in the Oct. 9 crash on Soledad Canyon Road, near Penlon Way, in Canyon Country. He has not yet been charged as of this story’s publication.
SCV Sheriff’s Station Deputy Seth Klindworth responded to the report of a crash in the early morning hours and found a car overturned and being consumed by flames, according to his sworn affidavit in a search-warrant request.
“Extensive measures went into extricating the driver,” Klindworth wrote, adding that the man appeared to have a possible skull fracture, second-degree burns and a possible broken wrist.
While first responders were rendering aid, the suspect threw up, which had a heavy odor of alcohol, according to the report.
The suspect-patient was rotated to avoid a choking hazard, and then taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, where he received treatment and underwent a number of tests that were later sought and obtained in the search warrant.
The deputy obtained a blood sample for evidence in the investigation, but it was completed three hours after the crash, and subsequent to narcotics being administered by hospital staff, according to the report.
The deputy then obtained all of the suspect’s medical notations from his care at the hospital, to see what was detected in his system prior to the hospital staff’s treatment.
“These documents will aid my investigation and give me a more accurate representation of what the suspect’s blood contained while he was driving and ultimately lead to the collision,” Klindworth wrote in his Oct. 21 request for the records.
