FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - A drunk driver was arrested after colliding into a CHP vehicle while it was responding to a crash in Fresno County that left a man dead early Sunday morning, the California Highway Patrol announced.
CHP says around 1:50 a.m. they were responding to a report of an injury collision crash on Kearney Boulevard, just west of Fair Avenue.
As officers investigated the scene, they report a driver, later determined to be under the influence of alcohol, collided into their vehicle. Photos reveal the front end of the passenger side of a grey sedan with major damage and the back end on the driver's side of a CHP SUV with moderate damage.
Investigators say the officers were already out of the vehicle and did not sustain any injuries. The drunk driver sustained minor injuries and will be booked on suspicion of DUI charges.
As detectives investigated the initial crash they determined a 21-year-old man was driving his car westbound on Kearney Boulevard when he allowed his car to veer off the roadway onto the dirt shoulder.
CHP says the front of the car crashed with a large Eucalyptus tree and was immediately engulfed in flames. The driver was unable to be extricated from the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene.
It is unknown if drugs or alcohol were a factor in this collision.