Hit-and-Run Victim, Witness Testify in Drunk-Driving Hearing

A Huntington Beach woman testified Thursday that she suffered three broken ribs and a slashed knee when a suspected drunken driver rammed her car with his pickup truck and then sped away.

Marsha Andersen, 44, credited witnesses to the July 25 accident with following the pickup to a nearby convenience store and then calling the police, who arrested David E. Wilson.

“I think the laws are real lenient about (drunk driving),” Andersen said. “It’s just Russian roulette driving out there.”

Wilson, who has a string of drunk driving arrests dating back to 1978, is charged with 12 felonies and seven other offenses, including giving police officers false names, leaving the scene of an accident, driving with a suspended license, and driving while intoxicated.

He has done at least two stints in Orange County Jail for drunk driving, but was released after four separate drunk driving arrests last summer because he gave police false names, according to police and court records. A fingerprint technician finally linked Wilson’s aliases and prints, and a warrant was issued for his arrest in August. Wilson was arrested in September in Orange, sober but still behind the wheel of his pickup.

“I was appalled and surprised that . . . I was the only one he has hit so far--that they know about,” Andersen said.

Thursday was the second day of a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to bind Wilson over to Superior Court for trial.

Wilson’s attorney, John Zitny, has indicated he will challenge the validity of the fingerprints and other identification. Wilson is being held in Orange County Jail on $100,000 bail, an unusually high amount for a drunk driving case.

In other testimony Thursday, Julie Bradley of Long Beach said she saw the pickup leave the scene of the accident. She followed the truck for about a mile until it stopped at a 7-Eleven store, and then called police.

A blood alcohol analyst for the Huntington Beach Police Department testified that a sample of Wilson’s blood showed an alcohol level of 0.24. This is three times the legal limit.

Prosecutors intend to prove the four drunk driving cases this summer as well as six prior offenses. If convicted, Wilson could face more than five years in state prison, Deputy Dist. Atty. James F. Bacin said.