Police Say Actor’s Crash Might Be Alcohol-Related

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 here Monday.

Investigators wouldn’t disclose why they suspect Vincent, 51, best-known for his leading role in 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 for four years following an accident in Malibu in which investigators determined his blood alcohol was .33, four times the legal limit.

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

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

“At this point, there is no evidence that there is any neurologic deficit. However, it’s still quite early,” said Dr. Ken Kushner, trauma surgeon at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo.

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

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

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

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

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He was driving a 1988 Mazda on Monday when the vehicle rear-ended another car driven by his 28-year-old girlfriend, Nicole Michelle Wallace, as she slowed down to negotiate a curve on Alicia Parkway near Finisterra, sheriff’s deputies said.

The Mazda spun out of control and struck a nearby pole, investigators said. Wallace and her two children, who were in the car at the time, were not injured.

Wilkerson said investigators reviewed the scene of the wreck Tuesday and planned to reconstruct the accident. They also examined damage to the Mazda, held in storage at a Lake Forest towing yard.

A car mechanic told police that Vincent appeared unsteady while stopped at a gas station a few minutes before the crash, the Associated Press reported.

“He was trying to tie a surfboard to the roof of his car and his girlfriend came in five minutes later to try to help him,” Eddie DeLaura said. “He could barely stand up.”

But Wilkerson said he could not comment on Vincent’s blood alcohol level until the case is referred to the district attorney’s office, likely within the next two weeks.

“He hasn’t been arrested,” Wilkerson said. “The investigation is still ongoing.”

David Krieff, 35, a longtime friend of Vincent, said Tuesday that many of the actor’s friends are angry with him because bouts with alcohol and drugs have cost him jobs and chances for a comeback.

“I’m very upset,” Krieff said. “This guy has had opportunity after opportunity. I think he’s on his ninth life here.”

Krieff said that Vincent’s ex-wife, his girlfriend, a brother and father were at his hospital bedside Tuesday.

Ironically, according to Krieff, Vincent’s family succeeded last week in convincing the actor to enter a alcohol and drug rehabilitation program.

The previous auto accident happened in December 1994, while Vincent was driving in a 1993 Ford Bronco along Encinal Canyon Road in Malibu with his family’s 42-year-old domestic worker as a passenger.

He lost control of his vehicle at a curve along the road, according to Los Angeles Sheriff’s Sgt. Kevin Mauch. “He was driving too fast for the curvy mountain road, and there were tire marks at the scene to indicate that,” Mauch said.

The passenger, Isabel Ordonez, of Los Angeles, suffered multiple contusions, bruises and internal injuries. She and Vincent, who had facial cuts, were hospitalized.

“We found the primary factor to be driving under the influence of alcohol,” Mauch said. “A blood test was done at Northridge, and the blood-alcohol level was .33, or four times the legal limit of .08.”

Courts records reveal a previous incident, in 1983, when the actor was placed on probation after pleading guilty to drunk driving. In 1986, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail for violating terms of that probation, but a judge later granted Vincent a stay on his jail sentence and ordered him to use the time for rehabilitation.

Deputies said Vincent was lucky to have escaped with minor injuries during the 1994 accident, and it appears he will heal again.

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Vincent recently co-starred in a low-budget film “The Ice Cream Man” and in the past appeared in television series such as “Dragnet” and “The Banana Splits Adventure Hour.” In 1984, he starred in CBS’s “Airwolf,” which ended in 1986 amid the actor’s cocaine abuse.

The actor has made other headlines off-screen.

In 1985, a man alleged that Vincent went into a “fit of rage” when the man saw the actor kicking his girlfriend and tried to intervene. Court records show Vincent pleaded no contest and was sentenced to three years’ probation and fined $85.

His then-wife, Joanne Robinson Vincent, accused him of spousal abuse in court papers asking for a restraining order in 1994. She alleged that she endured broken ribs, broken noses and had been hospitalized during the couple’s nine-year marriage. She also alleged in court documents that the actor once stomped her kitten to death.

In 1995, a Van Nuys Superior Court judge granted Lisa Marie Chiafullo, Vincent’s former live-in girlfriend, a $374,000 settlement in connection to her claim that he had physically assaulted her, causing a miscarriage. Vincent failed to show up for the trial.

Also contributing to this report was Times staff writer Lee Romney.