A woman who allegedly caused two crashes while driving under the influence of drugs was ordered Monday to stand trial on felony and misdemeanor charges.
Diana Chagolla, 39, of Redlands, is charged with a felony count of evading arrest and misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of drugs and resisting arrest in connection with the May 19, 2018, police chase and crash on Interstate 10.
Chagolla allegedly drove recklessly through a construction zone on I-10 east of Washington Street, triggering a pursuit that stretched across the desert east of the Coachella Valley.
Just after 6 that morning, Chagolla crashed her Nissan sedan into a center median guardrail east of Red Cloud Mine Road, and a CHP unit trailing her also crashed into the guardrail while swerving to avoid the Nissan, CHP Officer Ramon Perez said then.
Chagolla then holed up in her car on the freeway, causing a traffic buildup that stretched more than a mile west of the crash scene, according to the CHP. She was later taken to a hospital as a precaution before ultimately being booked into jail.
The two CHP officers in the crashed patrol unit complained of pain and were also taken to a hospital to be checked out.
As traffic grew behind the scene of the standoff, Perez said a truck driver “failed to see the stopped traffic” in front of him and crashed into two other big rigs and a sedan, leaving two of the trucks engulfed in flames.
Two of the big-rig drivers were airlifted to hospitals with what were described at the time by Perez as major injuries, while the sedan driver and a passenger in one of the trucks were hospitalized with moderate injuries. The Riverside County Fire Department also reported at the time that a fifth person was hospitalized with minor injuries.
Prosecutors had filed a sentence enhancement of inflicting great bodily injury, but Judge Russell Moore ruled there was not enough evidence to support the allegation.
Chagolla is due back in court on July 15 for a post-preliminary hearing arraignment.