Menifee Suspected DUI Driver Held On $50K Bail In Fatal Hemet Crash

HEMET, CA — A Menifee suspected DUI driver who struck and killed a Hemet Department of Public Works employee was being held Friday in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Noah Anthony Zapata, 27, was arrested and booked into the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning on Thursday on suspicion of driving under the influence resulting in great bodily injury.

Read also: City Worker ID'd As Victim Of Hemet Crash, Suspected DUI Driver Arrest

Zapata allegedly killed 40-year-old Derek Holt of Hemet on Acacia Avenue, just west of Kirby Street, shortly before 8 a.m. Thursday, according to the California Highway Patrol and Hemet Police Department.

City of Hemet spokesman Alan Reyes alleged Zapata was in a compact car going westbound on Acacia and plowed straight into the municipal truck that Holt had parked at the intersection.

Paramedics and patrol officers arrived within a few minutes and attempted life-saving measures on the victim, but he was pronounced dead at the scene, Reyes said.

He said that patrolmen detained Zapata and held him for CHP officers, who took over the investigation because it involved a municipal vehicle.

Further investigation confirmed the suspect allegedly had been driving under the influence. He was taken into custody without incident.

Background information on Zapata was unavailable.

Read also:

City Worker ID'd As Victim Of Hemet Crash, Suspected DUI Driver Arrest