Bloody trail leads to driver in rollover crash

Palo Alto police searching for the driver of a car that flipped over in the Palo Alto Hills were led to the man in part by a bloody trail after he left the scene of the accident, a police spokeswoman said.

Police dispatchers received calls from residents on Wednesday at 6:22 a.m. about a rollover crash on the 3100 block of Alexis Drive. At first residents thought a victim was in the 1999 Volkswagen Passat, which was upside down, but when they looked inside they found the car was empty. One resident told police dispatchers they thought they saw an empty bottle of alcohol in the car, police Agent Marianna Villaescusa said.

Police continued to receive calls from nearby residents about the driver: Someone was walking through a resident’s yard in the area; the driver, described as a Latino man, 5-feet-6-inches tall and weighing 180 pounds, was wearing a blue shirt and was seen running toward the Palo Alto Hills Golf and Country Club.

Police spoke to workers at the golf course, but they had not seen anyone, Villaescusa said. But officers searching nearby properties found a bloody blue sweatshirt and a trail of blood in one of the yards that led to the golf course.

At 7:10 a.m., an officer encountered the driver, whose head was bleeding, near the golf course club house, Villaescusa said. He was taken to the Stanford Hospital emergency room with serious head injuries, but he was conscious and talking. Police towed his car away.

The man, a Turlock resident who gave multiple dates of birth to police, is believed to be in his late 20s or early 30s, she said. He was apparently on his way to work when the accident happened. Police cited him for driving under the influence after he was given a blood alcohol test. He remained in the hospital as of Wednesday morning, Villaescusa said.