People v. Torres

[37]

MUSSELL, Acting P. J.

Appellant was charged in four counts in an information with violations of section 501 of the California Vehicle Code. He entered a plea of not guilty to all counts, waived trial by jury, and was found guilty on all four counts by the court. He was granted three years probation, conditioned upon his serving 90 days in the county jail and the payment of a fine of $300. His sole contention on his appeal from the judgment is that the evidence was insufficient to support it.

On November 2, 1957, at about 10 p. m., appellant was driving a Ford pickup easterly on Main Street in the city of Brawley, when his ear struck a Chevrolet automobile being driven south on Eighth Street and through the intersection of Eighth and Main Streets, in said city. Main Street runs east and west and Eighth Street north and south, with stop signs on Eighth Street on both sides of Main. A deputy sheriff, who was driving east on Main Street, testified that the Ford pickup passed him at an estimated speed of from 45 to 50 miles per hour about a block east of Eighth and Main Streets. Appellant was driving a Ford pickup and one Frank Morales was a passenger. After the pickup passed him the deputy observed a Chevrolet automobile headed south on Eighth Street and stopped at its intersection with Main. He heard the pickup truck’s brakes screech before it collided with the Chevrolet in the intersection. After the accident and while at the scene, the deputy smelled a strong odor of alcohol on the appellant’s breath.

Charlie Hudson, the driver of the Chevrolet, testified that there were six passengers riding with him in his car at the time of the accident; that he brought his car to a complete stop at the stop sign on Eighth before he entered the intersection; that he looked both ways on Main Street and, seeing no cars coming in either direction, proceeded south into the intersection; that he did not see the pickup until it was from one to one and one-half car lengths from his ear and he estimated the speed of the pickup at 50 miles per hour when the accident happened.

Doris Jones, Barbara Jones, Vada Smith and Joseph Smith, all passengers in the Chevrolet, were injured in the accident.

Appellant was taken to a hospital in an ambulance and before he left the scene of the accident stated that he would consent to a blood alcohol test. James Reynolds, a police officer who arrived at the scene of the accident within a few minutes after it happened, testified that he smelled the odor of alcohol