ABC reports that the wife of the Sonoma County Sheriff was arrested on the charge of DUI after she crashed her vehicle into a Santa Rosa residence early Saturday morning.
According to Sonoma County authorities, at approximately 12:51 a.m. on Saturday, May 20, old Natasha Whittinghill’s gray Tesla left the roadway, crashed through a fence, struck a tree, and into the home in the 5200 block of Beaumont Way.
Officers with the Santa Rosa Police Department responded to several calls, including a call from the homeowner. One of the residents in the home, a woman in her 50s, suffered minor injuries from broken glass. She was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
No one else was injured in the incident.
Officers investigating the crash and observing Whttinghill concluded that she had most likely been driving while intoxicated and was impaired when she crashed into the home. Whittinghill was arrested on suspicion of felony DUI causing injury and taken into custody.
Whittinghill was booked without incident into the Sonoma County jail.
Wanting the community to hear it from him first, Sonoma County Sheriff Eddie Engram made a statement on social media later that day.
“Last night, my wife was involved in a DUI crash,” Sheriff Engram said. “Her car hit a house, causing damage, and the one person inside the home was injured. As was appropriate, she was arrested and is facing DUI-related charges in the incident being handled by the Santa Rosa Police Department.”
Sheriff Engram went on to say that as a husband, he is greatly concerned about his wife’s well-being, and as a citizen and law enforcement official, he is very concerned about the well-being of the woman inside the home who suffered injuries.
Engram, elected Sonoma County Sheriff in June, referred all further questions about the matter to the Santa Rosa Police Department.