Man, 40, nabbed for felony DUI

A 40-year-old Petaluma man was arrested for felony DUI on Tuesday afternoon after a police officer spotted him running a red light as he drove from Lakeville Highway onto Casa Grande Road.

Rommel Flores was driving a 1989 Toyota 4 Runner when the officer stopped him at around 12:01 p.m. The officer determined that he had been drinking, and a subsequent investigation revealed that he was DUI. He refused to submit to a chemical test to determine the alcohol content of his blood, said Sgt. Ken Savano of the Petaluma Police Department.

Officers found that Rommel had a felony DUI conviction in 2003, and because his prior conviction was less than 10 years from the arrest on Tuesday, he was charged and booked at Sonoma County Jail for felony DUI.

These incidents brought Flores to the attention of DUI enforcement officers, who added him to the list of habitual DUI offenders targeted under the police department’s DUI Offender Stakeout Program. Funding for the program is made possible by grant funding from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.