Driver Arraigned in Freeway Crash : Accident: CHP officer pinned under car is still critical. Suspect is charged with felony drunk driving.

CHP officer Bruce Hinman continued to cling to life on Thursday--his 35th birthday--while the man who police say caused the accident that left Hinman hooked to life support machines was arraigned on two felony counts of drunk driving.

Hinman, who was injured when a stalled car was pushed onto his chest near a freeway junction, was still in a coma late Thursday as doctors at Holy Cross Medical Center continued to perform tests to determine the extent of his injuries, California Highway Patrol officials said.

Hinman was left in critical condition Tuesday night after a suspected drunk driver missed a turnoff and swerved into a disabled car whose driver Hinman was assisting, pushing the vehicle onto the CHP officer.

West Valley CHP spokesman Dwight McDonald said doctors plan to keep Hinman, the father of a 9-year-old boy and twin 5-year-old sons, on life-support machines in a medically controlled coma for the next few days.

“He is going to stay on the machine unless something drastic happens,” McDonald said.

Also Thursday, Ramiro Rodriguez, 42, pleaded not guilty to charges that he was driving under the influence of alcohol when his car caused the disabled vehicle at the junction of the Hollywood and Ventura Freeways to roll over Hinman.

Rodriguez is charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs during an incident in which injuries occurred, and with driving with a blood alcohol level in excess of the legal limit of 0.08%. Bail for Rodriguez was set at $100,000 and a preliminary hearing scheduled for Oct. 10 in Van Nuys Municipal Court.

If convicted on both counts, Rodriguez, who lives in San Fernando, faces a maximum of six years in prison. If Hinman dies, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Cohen, the charges will probably be upgraded to either manslaughter or murder.

Rita Goldmann, Hinman’s former mother-in-law, said it was particularly ironic that the officer was hit by a drunk driver. Even when he was very young, and his peers were experimenting with alcohol, she said, Hinman never drank.

“He just doesn’t drink,” Goldmann said. “He’d arrest his own mother for being drunk.”

On Tuesday, CHP Commissioner Maury (M.J.) Hannigan flew in from Sacramento and visited Hinman in his hospital room. Hannigan said Wednesday that even though Hinman was in critical condition, the eight-year motorcycle cop was still fighting to hang on.

Los Angeles County Firefighter Greg Rayner said Thursday that the quick response of an emergency rescue unit, which arrived at the scene of the accident in slightly more than 30 seconds, probably helped Hinman stay alive.

Rayner said a fire unit was headed back to a nearby fire station in Toluca Lake when they got the call. He said firefighters were able to pull the car off the officer’s chest in about three minutes.