Cotati Woman Rear-Ended by Drunk Driver

A Santa Rosa man was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and an hit-and-run following a collision in Santa Rosa Tuesday morning that injured a Cotati woman, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The collision occurred around 5 a.m. when Aletha Ancometani, 77, of Cotati, was struck from behind while stopped on the Dutton Avenue off-ramp from state Highway 12, according to CHP Officer Jonathan Sloat.

Ancometani said that when she pulled over, the vehicle that struck her, a light colored Saturn, continued past her.

Based on information she provided, the CHP officer responding to the scene searched Santa Rosa's Roseland area and located a gold Saturn parked in an apartment complex on McMinn Avenue. The car had severe front-end damage and was leaking fluids, and there was a man passed out in the front seat, Sloat said.

The man passed out in the car was identified as Jeremy James Anderson, 20, of Santa Rosa, the registered owner of the car.

Witnesses identified Anderson, who is on probation for a previous drunk driving conviction and has a suspended license, as the driver of the car. He failed field sobriety tests, and was arrested on suspicion of felony drunken driving, felony hit-and-run causing injury, driving while suspended and violation of probation, Sloat said.

A passenger in Anderson's car, Sierra Wandry, 18, of Rohnert Park, suffered minor injuries in the crash when the airbag deployed. Ancometani reported pain to her head and neck following the crash.

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