web powered by 
Home 
News Local News DUI charge in teen’s rollover
DUI charge in teen’s rollover
|
Two Klamath teens were injured during a rollover caused by a DUI on early Saturday morning 14 miles north of Klamath on U.S. Highway 101, according to a California Highway Patrol report. Mason Van Mechelen, 18, was arrested on suspicion of DUI causing injury after he was released from Sutter Coast Hospital on Saturday morning. Van Mechelen, who received minor injuries, was in custody Monday at Del Norte County Jail. His passenger, Thomas Lee Anthony Williams, 17, was thrown from the SUV and down a mountainside when the vehicle flipped on its side.
Williams was taken to Sutter Coast Hospital for moderate injuries,
where he was treated and released, according to hospital officials.
The CHP reported Van Mechelen was driving his 1996 Ford Explorer northbound on U.S. Highway 101 at an unknown speed and attempted to negotiate a right curve. The report stated “due to his level of intoxication,” Van Mechelen failed to control the SUV, and it swerved left, then drove off the edge of the road. Van Mechelen overcorrected the SUV to the right, causing the vehicle to slide across the highway and strike an embankment. The SUV flipped on its right side, ejecting Williams out of the vehicle and down the mountainside. The vehicle came to rest on its top, the report stated. Williams was not wearing a seat belt. The CHP said Van Mechelen then pulled himself from the SUV, spoke with a citizen who arrived on scene, then went down the embankment after Williams. Williams and Van Mechelen were hoisted back up to the road by Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue and fire department officials, according to the CHP. |
