1 dead in multi-car DUI crash on Lakeville

A 21-year-old driver died Sunday night on Lakeville Highway when she was hit head-on by a drunken driver in a crash that involved at least three other vehicles, according to the CHP.

A second drunken driver later crashed into the investigation scene and was arrested, CHP Officer Jon Sloat said Monday.

Following the first collision, CHP officers arrested Logologoa Taumaloto Tevaseu, 35, of Santa Rosa, on suspicion of homicide, suspecting he was drunk when he hit the Oakley woman’s car. Tevaseu also has a prior drunken driving conviction, according to CHP Officer Jon Sloat.

The 9:10 p.m. collision happened on the rural highway near Cougar Mountain Drive, just north of Highway 37.

The suspect was in a 2006 Dodge Ram headed south on Lakeville Highway and was passing vehicles across double yellow lines, Sloat said. While passing other southbound cars, he struck the northbound woman’s 2015 Toyota Corolla.

Three vehicles heading toward the crash then collided with the Toyota or each other. Three people were taken to Memorial and Petaluma Valley hospitals with minor and moderate injuries.

CHP officers arrived first and began offering medical aid, joined by Lakeville, Petaluma, Cal Fire and Schell-Vista firefighters, and air and ground ambulances, Sloat said.

Tevaseu refused to take a blood test, which was obtained after officers obtained a search warrant, Sloat said.

During the crash investigation officers closed Lakeville Highway at Highway 37 and at Old Lakeville Road No. 3. At the northern end, officers set up two patrol cars on the roadway with lights flashing and four “road closed” signs on barricades, Sloat said.

When officers in the roadway realized an approaching car headed wasn’t slowing they ran to avoid being hit. The driver swerved to the side of the highway and struck a parked CHP vehicle. Ashley Leah Barnachea, 29, of Santa Rosa was taken to Petaluma Valley Hospital and arrested, suspected of drunken driving.