Man Sentenced to Year in Jail for Injuring 3 in DUI Crashes

By Bay City News Service

A man who hit three cars while driving in Menlo Park before crashing into an electrical box in Palo Alto in January pleaded no contest Wednesday to felony drunk driving causing injury, prosecutors said Thursday.

Daniel Gere, 74, was then sentenced by Judge Leland Davis to a year in jail and five years’ probation. He is not allowed to drink during his probation and his driver’s license was revoked, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors had initially sought a sentence of three years in state prison for the series of crashes that injured three people on Jan. 3.

The first crash happened in the parking lot of the Safeway store at 525 El Camino Real at about 7:30 p.m., according to prosecutors. Gere backed into a Range Rover parked there twice and then drove south on El Camino Real.

He collided with two cars at a stoplight at El Camino Real and Cambridge Avenue, injuring three people. None of the injuries were serious, prosecutors said.

Gere kept driving, finally crashing into an electrical box in Palo Alto. Menlo Park police found him there, injured and intoxicated, and took him to a hospital.

At the hospital, he admitted he had been drinking vodka. Prosecutors said when asked why he fled the collisions, Gere told investigators, “Why do you care? Everyone is full of insurance.”