A 28-year-old suspected drunken driver who allegedly slammed into a van carrying three Riverside County sheriff’s deputies after plowing through a red light in Riverside was out of custody Friday.
Samuel Ibrahim Shearer of Riverside was arrested and booked into the Robert Presley Jail Thursday on suspicion of felony driving under the influence resulting in great bodily injury.
Shearer posted a $50,000 bond Friday morning and was released from the downtown Riverside detention facility.
The three deputies injured in Thursday’s crash, whose names were not released, were recovering from minor to major injuries, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The agency was assigned to investigate the wreck because it involved law enforcement personnel, even though it happened within the Riverside Police Department’s jurisdiction.
According to CHP Officer Javier Navarro, the deputies were headed to a training exercise about 9:25 a.m. Thursday in one of the lawmen’s personal 2016 Toyota Sienna caravan.
Navarro alleged that, at the same time, Shearer was inebriated and driving his 2019 Chevrolet Silverado pickup, going westbound on Victoria Avenue “at a high rate of speed.”
The Toyota proceeded into the intersection of Victoria and La Sierra Avenue on a green light, southbound on La Sierra, Navarro said.
“The driver of the Chevrolet failed to stop at the red phased light … crashing into the Toyota,” the CHP spokesman said.
The pickup impacted the driver’s side of the van, causing major damage, he said.
Shearer’s pickup was disabled in the collision, and he did not attempt to flee.
Navarro said officers detained him without incident and soon determined that he was allegedly intoxicated.
The suspect suffered minor injuries that did not require hospitalization.
Background information on him was unavailable.
The sheriff’s department declined to comment on the crash, referring all inquiries to the CHP.