Drunk Driving Probed in Actor’s Crash

Traffic investigators said Tuesday that actor Jan-Michael Vincent, whose driver’s license was suspended because of an alcohol-related accident two years ago, may have been intoxicated when his car rammed into his girlfriend’s vehicle Monday.

Investigators would not disclose why they suspect Vincent, 52, best known for his lead role in the television series “Airwolf,” of drunk driving, or say how fast he was driving in the accident that left him hospitalized with a broken neck.

“What we can say is that it is being investigated as an alcohol-related accident,” Sheriff’s Lt. Ron Wilkerson said.

In May 1995, Vincent’s driver’s license was suspended four years after an accident in Malibu in which investigators determined that his blood-alcohol level was 0.33%, four times the legal limit.

Court records also show that Vincent pleaded guilty and was placed on probation after a drunk driving arrest in 1983.

Vincent was reported in stable condition Tuesday in Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center’s intensive care unit, where doctors were optimistic about his recovery.

“At this point, [there is] no evidence that there is any neurologic deficit. However, it’s still quite early,” said Dr. Ken Kushner, a trauma surgeon at the medical center.

“He does not appear to be paralyzed,” Kushner said.

Dr. Jacques Palmer, a neurosurgeon who examined Vincent at the hospital, said he had been unconscious and had only slight movements in one foot, but was later able to move both feet.

“At the present time, he is moving all of his extremities and . . . he is following commands and moving appropriately to commands,” Palmer said.

Vincent’s injury--a fractured second cervical vertebra--was consistent with hitting his head on the windshield or the steering wheel, Palmer said.

He was driving a 1988 Mazda on Monday when the vehicle rear-ended a car driven by his 28-year-old girlfriend, Nicole Michelle Wallace, as she slowed down for a curve, deputies said.

The Mazda spun out of control and struck a pole, investigators said. Wallace and her two children, also in the car, were uninjured.

Times staff writer Lee Romney contributed to this story.