Crime & Safety

Police Arrest Felony Drunk Driver for 4th DUI

Ross Bracken, of Petaluma, had a blood alcohol level four times the legal limit.

Editor's Note: Petaluma Police released the following announcement on Monday, Feb. 10, 2014.

At 4:52 p.m., Monday, a citizen called 911 to report a possible drunk driver had collided with a tree at 1400 Petaluma Boulevard North. The caller described the vehicle as a white BMW leaving northbound on Petaluma Boulevard South and provided a license plate.

Petaluma 911 dispatchers broadcast the information to officers on patrol.

Motor Officer Paul Accornero located the vehicle driving northbound on Petaluma Boulevard North near Payran Street and conducted an enforcement stop. 

The subsequent investigation found that the driver, Ross Bracken, age 49, from Petaluma was under the influence of alcohol. He was known to officers as a habitual DUI offender with three prior arrests for DUI in 2005, 2006, and 2011.

Bracken is on active DUI probation.

Officers also discovered he had disabled his court ordered ignition interlock device to be able to start his vehicle. His blood alcohol level was later determined to be .364 percent, more than four times the legal limit.

He was arrested and booked at Sonoma County Jail with set at $30,000. 

He was charged with felony DUI w/priors, disabling the ignition interlock device, and violation of probation. His vehicle was impounded for 30 days. 

DUI remains the 5th highest cause of collision in Petaluma. In 2013, there were 57 DUI collisions resulting 19 people injured. 


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