Crime & Safety

2 DUI Suspects Injure People 6 Blocks Apart in Same Night

Linda Jean Stallings, 49, and Rei Hart, 74, were both arrested Friday evening on suspicion of driving under the influence and hitting others with their cars on 11th and 13th streets.

In two separate incidents, two women were arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and striking another person with their cars Friday evening, said Sgt. Juan Marquez of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.

Around 7:15 p.m. Friday, a bicyclist was hit by a gold SUV at the corner of 11th Street and Elm Avenue. The driver fled the scene, but witnesses called the Sheriff's Department with details about the car and its driver, said Lt. Scott Amos.

“During the investigation the suspect, who had driven away, came back to the scene,” said Amos. “Witnesses pointed that person out and deputies arrested them for felony drunken driving and hit-and-run.”

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Deputies later confirmed the suspect lived on 11th Street, a short distance from the accident scene, Amos said.

The bicyclist was transported to UCSD Medical Center with nonlife-threatening injuries.

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Roughly two hours after Linda Jean Stallings was arrested, 74-year-old Rei Hart rear-ended a car on 13th Street and Palm Avenue, authorities said. 

Sheriff's deputies and an ambulance responded, and Hart was arrested at about 11:30 p.m. on suspicion of driving under the influence and causing bodily injury. 

Henry Cooper, 64, the driver of the car allegedly hit by Hart, was checked out by paramedics but did not go to the hospital, Marquez said.

Like Stallings, Hart was brought to Las Colinas Women's Detention Facility in Santee.

Hart is being held on $100,000 bail and will be arraigned Wednesday at the South Bay Courthouse, sheriff records show.

Stallings was arrested and released on $100,000 bail and has a Dec. 10 court date, said San Diego County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Tanya Sierra.


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