Santa Rosa Police Officer Injured In Hit-And-Run; Arrest Made: PD

SANTA ROSA, CA — A Santa Rosa police officer suffered moderate injuries in a suspected hit-and-run collision Tuesday that left his patrol car totaled, according to the Santa Rosa Police Department. Multiple 911 callers reported the officer-involved collision around 8 a.m. Nov. 5 in the 4700 block of Sonoma Highway, police said.

The callers said the officer's car had collided with a tree in the center median, just before the intersection with Middle Rincon Road. Witnesses also told police another driver in a "white hatchback" was involved in the crash but drove away from the scene, SRPD officials said.

Officers and medical personnel arrived at the scene to find that "multiple citizens had stopped to help the officer out of his vehicle," police said.

The officer, whose name was not being released by SRPD, was immediately taken by ambulance to a local hospital, police said.

At the scene, one of the witnesses told police the officer involved in the crash was driving eastbound in the No. 1 lane of Sonoma Highway when "the white hatchback pulled out quickly from a driveway on the south side of the highway, east of 4776 Sonoma Highway," according to SRPD.

"The driver fully accelerated past the number two lane and into the number one lane, disregarding all eastbound traffic," police said. "The witness watched as the driver of the hatchback over-corrected in the number one lane and tried to swerve out of the way of the officer's patrol vehicle."

The "officer did his best to avoid hitting the hatchback and veered up on to the center median and collided with a tree, immediately totaling his patrol vehicle," police said.

The main witness to the crash told police they saw the hatchback driver pull over to the side of Sonoma Highway and get out of her car, apparently to check for any damage to her car.

"She then swiftly got back in her vehicle and drove away, never once trying to render aid to the involved officer or wait for other officers to arrive," police said.

SRPD issued a BOLO — "Be on the Lookout" — alert for the car and for the driver, who was described as a 30- to 40-year-old white woman with a thin build and reddish-colored hair.

More than an hour later, the driver suspected in the hit-and-run arrived back at the scene, driving a white Honda Fit, according to police.

"When asked about the collision, she initially stated that she didn't have anything to do with it," police said.

The driver, identified by police as Elizabeth Balchowsky, 49, of Graton, was arrested on suspicion of felony hit and run causing serious injury.

The incident remains under investigation; anyone with information is asked to call SRPD Officer Ken Ferrigno at 707-543-3636.

The injured officer was treated and released from the hospital Tuesday, police said.

Balchowsky appears to have been released from custody, as her name did not come up in a search Wednesday morning of Sonoma County jail records.