Nipomo woman, 18, pleads not guilty in DUI crash with police car
An 18-year-old Nipomo woman accused of striking a police car in an alleged DUI incident has pleaded not guilty.
Miranda A. Miranda is charged with felony DUI causing injury. She’s also facing special allegations of causing injury to two people and great bodily injury to one person.
She appeared in Santa Barbara County Superior Court on Wednesday.
According to the CHP, Guadalupe police Officer Efrain Oseguera was taking a prisoner, Abacuc Lopez-Sanchez, to Santa Barbara County Jail on Dec. 12 when the vehicle he was driving was struck head-on by a pickup on Highway 1 south of Brown Road about 2:15 a.m.
The officer attempted to evade the pickup, which was traveling north in the southbound lane, according to the CHP. Miranda, the driver of the truck, also swerved, and the two vehicles collided, the CHP said.
Miranda was arrested at the scene on suspicion of drunken driving. Her presumptive blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit, police said.
The officer was treated for injuries to his face, hands, arms, knees and abdomen. He has been released from the hospital and is expected to fully recover. Lopez-Sanchez, who was in the back of the police car, was treated for what police described as nonlife-threatening injuries.
Bail was set at $100,000. She is scheduled to appear in court again Dec. 28.
Santa Barbara-based news website Noozhawk.com contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 18, 2016 at 11:28 AM with the headline "Nipomo woman, 18, pleads not guilty in DUI crash with police car."