Off-Duty Cop Captures Suspected DUI Driver Involved in Fatality of Pedestrian From Gilroy

A man detained by an off-duty Morgan Hill police officer was arrested Sunday on suspicion of driving under the influence after a crash killed a 37-year-old man and injured a juvenile, police said.

Edgar Benitez Martinez, of Morgan Hill, was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on suspicion of DUI, Morgan Hill police Sgt. Carson Thomas said.

At about 6:50 p.m. Sunday, Morgan Hill police were dispatched to the scene of a pedestrian injured in a traffic collision on Tennant Avenue near Juan Hernandez Drive about a block west of U.S. Highway 101, according to Thomas.

On their way to the scene, officers learned that an off-duty Morgan Hill police officer had witnessed the crash, followed the suspect as he tried to drive away and detained him, police said. Police responded to where the off-duty officer and suspect were and to the scene of the crash.

From an investigation, officers determined that the suspect, later identified as Martinez, had been driving west on Tennant after exiting from Highway 101 and while approaching Juan Hernandez Drive, he drifted onto the right shoulder, police said. His vehicle then struck the driver of a parked vehicle who was standing to the rear of the vehicle, where the juvenile was seated inside, police said.

The suspect drove his vehicle back onto Tennant heading west and then turned north onto Juan Hernandez, where the off-duty officer pursued and later detained him, according to police.

Emergency medical responders and police officers attempted to provide aid to the injured pedestrian, a 37-year-old man from Gilroy, but he was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Paramedics transported the juvenile to a trauma center, where the child was released later to a family member, police said.

Police are withholding the pedestrian’s name until his family members are notified of his death.

Anyone who may have witnessed the collision is encouraged to contact Sgt. Bill Norman at (408) 779-2101 or an anonymous tip line at (408) 947-7867.

--Bay City News

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