Driver Suspected of Yesterday’s Hit and Run Spree in Willits ‘Blew Almost Four Times the Legal Limit for DUI’, Says Law Enforcement

Yesterday afternoon, a Covelo man by the name of Jared Reed Thomason allegedly was found passed out in his vehicle and when law enforcement caught up with him, he attempted to evade officers. His failed getaway resulted in six hit and run crashes and finally a head-on collision with another driver causing moderate injury, said law enforcement.

Willits Police Chief Fabian Lizarraga told us Thomason “blew almost four times the legal limit for DUI” when he was breathalyzed and “we are fortunate that no one suffered more serious injuries.”

Chief Lizarraga told us law enforcement was initially contacted regarding “a car stopped on Main Street and the driver passed out” near the intersection of Main Street and San Francisco Avenue. By the time Willits Police Department officers arrived, Thomason had “driven off”, but “we caught up to him” near California Street and Penn Street.”

Once officers located Thomason and the vehicle, they pursued his vehicle with “lights and siren.” Thomason is alleged to have “refused to yield and was driving very erratically, swerving from side to side on residential streets.”

In a matter of moments, Thomason “entered the Safeway parking lot” where he “hit two cars that were parked, kept going, and struck three cars at the gas pump as he tried to thread his way through them,” Chief Lizarraga told us.

Chief Lizarraga said Thomason struck a FedEx truck before exiting the Safeway parking lot southbound on Main Street. Then, the Chief said, he proceeded to swerve into the northbound lane when he struck a vehicle head-on causing that vehicle to be pushed back into another going northbound.

The driver of the vehicle struck head-on, Chief Lizarraga explained, “was transported to the hospital with complaints of chest pain.”

After blowing nearly four times the legal limit for DUI, Chief Lizarraga said Thomason stands accused of several charges. Those charges, as per the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Booking Logs, include felony evasion of a police officer, felony hit and run resulting in death or injury, misdemeanor driving without a license, and two misdemeanors associated with driving with elevated levels of alcohol.

Reflecting on the incident, Chief Lizarraga was thankful the situation did not result in more injuries or damage and said there were “just a lot of traumatized drivers who were minding their own business when this guy came through.”

With due respect to the victims of the circumstances described, it must be stated that the charges described have not been proven in a court of law. In accordance with the legal principle of the presumption of innocence, any individual described should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Earlier: Six Vehicles Struck and One Person Injured After Driver Flees Law Enforcement in Willits Safeway Parking Lot