A reckless driving incident turned disastrous this Saturday, as an 18-year-old Santa Rosa man was arrested for causing a head-on collision that sent three people to the hospital. Carlos Delara reportedly lost control of his white Infiniti sedan, veering into oncoming traffic on the Highway 12 overpass, and slamming into a Honda CR-V around 6:05 p.m., according to a Facebook post by the Santa Rosa Police Department.
Delara, along with helpers from the scene, managed to quickly extract two 16-year-old female passengers prior to the Infiniti bursting into flames. Tragically, one of the girls was found unconscious with a moderate head injury. She and the other teen, who suffered minor injuries, were quickly transported to area hospitals for treatment. Fortunately, they have since been treated and released. To compound the situation, the driver of the Honda, a 70-year-old Larkfield local, is currently stable but was critically injured in the collision and is still recovering in the hospital.
The wreckage caused significant disruptions, with Northbound Stony Point Road being closed for over seven hours to allow for an investigation. Delara now faces severe legal repercussions following the incident. Santa Rosa Police charged the youthful driver with two counts of felony reckless driving that caused injury, one count of misdemeanor reckless driving, and two counts of felony child endangerment. This information comes straight from a Facebook post by the Santa Rosa Police Department, which provided details of the offenses.
Witness statements have yet to fully unravel the narrative behind the reckless behavior and Delara's connection to the occupants of the Mercedes he was allegedly pursuing. The police have made a public appeal for anyone with information to come forward, with Accident Investigator John Fisher being the point of contact. Delara, identified as a resident of Santa Rosa with the teenage passengers believed to be his relatives from nearby Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa.
