Crash Victim Tails Apparent Drunken Driver Until Arrest

A motorist tailed a swerving pickup truck that had smashed into his car Friday night, saw it smash into a wall, and waited for deputies to arrive to arrest the suspected drunken driver, a sergeant said Saturday.

Matthew Phillip McClelland, 28, of Highland, was held overnight for suspicion of drunken driving and leaving the scene of a crash, then released Saturday on $2,500 bail, jail records indicated.

A Ford F-450 pickup truck was heading south on San Pablo Avenue in Palm Desert Friday night when it rear-ended a Nissan 370Z and was driven away, Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. David Wright said.

The driver of the Nissan followed the pickup through a neighborhood and saw it veer over the shoulder near San Clemente Circle and San Gorgonio Way and hit a stucco wall shortly after 11 p.m.

As the victim was on the phone with 911, the pickup again drove off. About a mile away, the pickup reportedly hit a parked car.

McClelland was arrested a short time later, Wright said. No one was hurt.

– City News Service