A 30-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after the California Highway Patrol said he veered into a motorcycle officer escorting Mexico's National Soccer Team back to their hotel from Levi's Stadium.
Gerardo Gonzalez Corona of Hayward was driving a silver Mercedes Benz on Saturday about 10:30 p.m. when he struck CHP Officer John Darling's motorcycle on Stars and Stripes Drive, just north of Tasman Drive, according to CHP spokesman Ross Lee.
Lee said Corona crossed over the double yellow lines separating the northbound and southbound lanes and drove directly toward Darling, who tried to avoid being struck by turning right.
But the Mercedes ended up hitting the front of Darling's motorcycle, and Darling was thrown onto the roadway, Lee said.
Witnesses told officers that Corona might have been driving at about 25 to 30 miles per hour. After the collision, Corona kept driving, the CHP said, before he was stopped by other officers in the escort detail.
Darling was taken to a hospital where he was treated for minor injuries before being released, Lee said.
Corona was arrested and booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail for suspicion of driving a vehicle under the influence while causing injury, being involved in a hit and run collision causing injury, driving a vehicle while unlicensed, and failure to provide insurance at the scene of a collision. Attempts to reach Corona or his attorney were unsuccessful.
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Darling was part of a detail escorting the soccer team from Levi's Stadium to their team hotel in San Jose following their game against Chile.
