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Hit-and-run in Yountville
Paul Pelosi, 86, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, faced a misdemeanor hit-and-run charge after authorities said he struck a parked vehicle in Napa County, California, on Friday and drove away before his own car became disabled.
“no alcohol (.00 on Preliminary Alcohol Screening Device) was detected”
The Napa County Sheriff’s Office said the crash happened Friday afternoon in Yountville, just over an hour north of San Francisco, and deputies later found the damaged convertible partially blocking a nearby roadway.
Investigators said a witness reported seeing a brown convertible hit an unoccupied parked vehicle before continuing north, and deputies identified the driver as Paul Pelosi.
The sheriff’s office said alcohol was not a factor and that “no alcohol (.00 on Preliminary Alcohol Screening Device) was detected,” therefore Driving Under the Influence was ruled out.
The case was referred to the Napa County District Attorney’s Office for review and possible prosecution, and deputies said they would submit a driver re-evaluation referral to the California DMV.
What Pelosi told deputies
During the investigation, the Napa County Sheriff’s Office said Pelosi admitted to hitting something but did not know what it was, and he kept driving until his vehicle became disabled.
NBC News quoted the sheriff’s office press release saying that “Pelosi admitted to hitting something, but said he did not know what he had hit, so he kept driving,” and that he drove away until he could no longer continue.
The Sacramento Bee reported that the hit-and-run happened around 2:30 p.m. Friday near the 6700 block of Yount Street in the Town of Yountville, where the parked vehicle was on the roadway’s east shoulder.
The Sacramento Bee also said a witness called 911 and that deputies later found a California Highway Patrol vehicle parked behind the convertible, partially blocking the roadway.
The sheriff’s office said Pelosi was not arrested at the scene “in accordance with misdemeanor arrest laws,” and it planned to submit a California DMV re-evaluation referral form for elderly drivers.
Prior DUI and next steps
The latest incident came as authorities handled the case as a property-damage hit-and-run, with the sheriff’s office recommending a misdemeanor charge because no injuries were reported.
“No injuries were reported”
The AP-based report carried by WOWK 13 News said Pelosi “could face misdemeanor charges” and that because “No injuries were reported,” the sheriff’s office recommended a misdemeanor charge for fleeing the scene of an accident.
Fox News also placed the Friday crash in context of Pelosi’s prior record, saying the incident came more than two years after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor drunken driving causing injury stemming from a May 2022 crash in Napa County.
Fox News said he was sentenced to three years of probation, five days in jail, a three-month DUI education program, installation of an ignition interlock device for one year, and fines and restitution to the injured driver.
In a separate thread of criminal exposure, Fox News noted that Paul Pelosi remained in the public eye after the October 2022 hammer attack inside the San Francisco home he shares with Nancy Pelosi, and it said David DePape was sentenced in October 2024 to life in prison on state charges after a 30-year federal prison sentence.
