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While two California Highway Patrol officers were arresting a man for drunk driving outside of Nevada City Saturday, a second intoxicated driver crashed into the parked vehicles and nearly injured the three individuals on the side of the road. 

Neither officer was injured, and both individuals who were arrested for driving while intoxicated sustained minor injuries, according to a CHP report on the incident. 

“We do have an issue with impaired driving,” said Greg Tassone, a CHP public information officer. “ I wish people were more careful.” 

It all began around 11 p.m. Saturday, outside Nevada City, where Highway 20 splits off with Highway 49.  One CHP officer assigned to the Grass Valley Area Office had arrived to assist a colleague who had stopped Denver resident Jared Carter, 37, for alleged erratic driving, according to the report. 

As both officers were arresting Carter on the side of the road on the charge of DUI, Salt Lake City resident Amy Joann Gregg, 31, was reportedly headed eastbound toward the trio in a 2007 Ford F-150 pickup truck, the CHP report indicates.  It was at this time that Gregg is alleged to have veered toward the right side of the road and collided into all three parked vehicles. 

According to the CHP officers’ report, they fled to the brush for their safety, pulling Carter with them “away from the roadway and certain injury.”  Carter was reported to have incurred a minor ankle injury during this flight. 

While CHP is handling the investigation into the incident, personnel from the Nevada City Police Department, Nevada County Consolidated Fire District and a Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital ambulance responded to the scene to assist. 

The officers’ subsequent investigation determined Gregg was also driving under the influence of alcohol when the wreck occurred.  She was arrested at the scene and transported to the hospital for evaluation before being booked into the Nevada County jail on DUI charges. 

Officer’s estimated her speed to be between 35 and 50 miles per hour. 

“I don’t think she was up to full speed, thankfully,” Tassone said. “ Had she been going 15-20 mph faster or if they hadn’t been watching, the officers or the person arrested could have been struck.  We’re all feeling very thankful that everyone was largely okay.” 

One of the CHP vehicles was totalled, the other was left inoperable and both had to be towed away, Tassone said.  Carter’s full-sized pickup also sustained damages from one of the CHP vehicles being slammed into it. 

While officers await the results of a blood test to determine Gregg’s sobriety, Tassone said both individuals were visibly inebriated. 

While both individuals are residents out of state, Tassone said it appears the two have no affiliation. 

During the proceedings at the scene of the wreck, the second eastbound lane of Highway 20 was partially closed for approximately 30 minutes while emergency crews worked at the scene, CHP reported. 

To top it all off, the man the officers were originally attending to, Carter, was also charged with felony drug transportation after officers determined he had allegedly been transporting a “very large quantity” of packaged marijuana, the CHP report states. 

Carter posted $10,000 bail as of press time by Monday, Gregg had posted the $2,000 bail on Sunday and both were released from the Nevada County jail, according to the jail’s website.