Man Charged with Felony DUI in Accident that Leaves Three Dead

Last week, a 20-year-old Fresno resident, Orlando Gomez-Benitez, had been accused of being under the influence of alcohol (DUI) after a fatal traffic accident killed three of the passengers in his car. The CHP claims that he drove through a stop sign and collided with another vehicle. Mr. Gomez-Benitez was listed in critical condition after the accident. Reportedly, the three passengers were ejected from the vehicle due to the fact that none of them were wearing seatbelts. Two of the occupants of the other vehicle also sustained minor injuries from the accident.

After the accident, Mr. Benitez-Gomez’s family commented that hospital documents released by Community Regional Medical Center (CRMC) showed that Mr. Benitez-Gomez was not under the influence of either drugs or alcohol. Sadly, the passengers in Orlando’s vehicle were his girlfriend, his younger brother, and his brother’s girlfriend. Days after the accident, the CHP released a report that Orlando was being arrested for felony DUI, however, the lab report from CRMC shows negative results from drugs and alcohol. The reason the CHP decided to make an arrest for felony DUI, according to their spokesperson, was due to the fact that Mr. Gomez-Benitez failed to stop at the stop sign and was combative at the scene, so he was placed under arrest to obtain a blood sample. The Fresno District Attorney’s Office has held off on filing charges till the blood test comes back from the Department of Justice.

Without commenting on whether the CRMC report is accurate or not, I will say that in my career as a Fresno DUI Lawyer, I have scene many innocent people arrested for driving under the influence, only to have the charges contradicted by a blood report that comes back with no drugs and .00% alcohol. Recently, I obtained an order in Federal Court sealing the record of my client’s arrest for DUI in Yosemite National Park due to this very same issue- his blood test came back with no alcohol in his system. It is really a shame that people are charged with DUI before the blood test even comes back to show whether they had alcohol in their system or not.

Regardless of the propriety of the arrest, people do not often realize that if they are illegitimately charged with DUI, they can seal the record of the arrest so that it does not appear in either a Federal or State background check. That is one reason why you should contact a serious Fresno DUI Attorney. Michael E. Mitchell is one of a select few top Fresno DUI Lawyers, give him a call to see how he can fight your DUI case.