CALIFORNIA: Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco reports Miguel Gamboa Fragoza charged with DUI after crashing into Sheriff’s paddy wagon

27-year-old Miguel Gamboa Fragoza of San Bernardino was arrested by the Riverside Police Department

Fleeing boozing driver left his front bumper and tag behind as a clue for pursuing police

Boozing-DUI-driver-left-his-license-plate-in-the-intersection-after-hitting-Sheriff-paddy-wagon.-Photo-courtesy-of-KTLA

According to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, on Friday, January 28, 2022, shortly after 12:30 a.m., a Riverside Sheriff’s prisoner transport van was struck by a white Honda CR-V at 14th Street and Lime Street in downtown Riverside, causing it to overturn. The van was occupied by a Riverside Sheriff’s Community Service Officer and three arrestees, all of who were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries.

The Honda CR-V fled the scene but left behind its front bumper with a license plate, along with a fluid trail that went east on 14th Street from the collision scene. Riverside Police Officers followed that trail and located the suspect vehicle and driver at 12th Street and Bermuda Avenue where he was safely detained.

Sergeant Deanna Pecoraro, Public Information Officer, reports that the preliminary investigation revealed the Riverside Sheriff’s van was traveling west on 14th Street when it entered the intersection at Lime Street on a green light. The Honda CR-V was driving south on Lime Street when the driver failed to stop for the red light at 14th Street and collided with the Sheriff’s van, causing the van to roll over one time.

27-year-old Miguel Gamboa Fragoza of San Bernardino was arrested by the Riverside Police Department and later booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury and hit and run causing injury, both felony charges. The traffic collision will also be investigated by the Riverside Police Department.

ABOUT RIVERSIDE COUNTY SHERIFF CHAD BIANCO

Chad Bianco was elected Sheriff, Coroner, and Public Administrator of Riverside County in the November 6, 2018, general election. He is a twenty-eight-year veteran of the Department. As Sheriff, he serves as the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of Riverside County.

Sheriff Bianco entered the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department on December 31, 1993. He began his career in Corrections at the Robert Presley Detention Center. He spent time working patrol and narcotics in the City of Lake Elsinore. Sheriff Bianco held supervisory and management positions at the Jurupa Valley Station, Moreno Valley Police Department, the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility, and the Hemet Station. Additionally, he served administrative assignments in Internal Affairs, and Corrections Administration and Planning. As the fourteenth Sheriff of Riverside County, Sheriff Bianco also serves as Sheriff-Coroner and Public Administrator.

Sheriff Bianco oversees the county’s five jail facilities, six court buildings, a civil bureau, the Coroner’s Bureau and Public Administrator’s Office, seventeen contract cities, 4000 dedicated employees and an operating budget of nearly nine hundred million dollars.

Sheriff Bianco is married with four adult children, and two grandchildren. He and his wife, Denise, live in the Woodcrest area of Riverside. Sheriff Bianco believes in service above self, and hopes that his priorities of God, family, and service will provide meaningful guidance and direction as the Sheriff’s Office engages in an unprecedented change of culture to positively influence and engage our community.