Riverside Woman Admits Hitting CHP Officer While Driving Drunk

RIVERSIDE (CNS) – A 27-year-old woman who was driving under the influence when she ran into a California Highway Patrol officer stopped on his motorcycle pleaded guilty Wednesday to DUI causing great bodily injury and other offenses and was immediately sentenced to 36 months felony probation.

Heather Fernandez Hernandez of Riverside admitted the DUI count, along with hit-and-run causing injury, under a plea agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. In exchange for her admissions, prosecutors dropped a related felony charge, as well as a sentence-enhancing allegation.

Superior Court Judge Emma Smith certified the terms of the plea deal during a hearing at the Riverside Hall of Justice. In addition to probation, Smith ordered the defendant to complete a three-month alcohol addiction program and submit to routine alcohol monitoring for at least six months as part of her probation.

Hernandez was approaching the intersection of Adams Street and Indiana Avenue in Riverside in her 2005 Hyundai Elantra at about 4:50 a.m. on May 9, 2022, when she failed to stop for traffic, plowing into a CHP officer waiting for the light to change, according to Officer Ryan Railsback of the Riverside Police Department.

The victim was ejected from his motorcycle onto the roadway, suffering moderate injuries, Railsback said.

Hernandez sped away, but a witness followed her and called 911 to direct police to her location. She was arrested without incident less than an hour later in the area of Lincoln and Tropicana avenues, according to Railsback.

The CHP officer was taken to Riverside Community Hospital for treatment and ultimately recovered.

Hernandez was not injured.

She had no prior felony or misdemeanor convictions.

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