Santa Barbara DA Files Charges in Two Christmas Day Crashes Involving Alleged Drunk Drivers

The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office has filed criminal charges in two separate alleged drunk driving incidents that occurred in Santa Barbara County over the holiday weekend, resulting in one death and sending three victims to the hospital.

On Friday, December 29, the District Attorney’s Office released a report on what DA John T. Savrnoch called the “two separate and tragic incidences … emphasizing the extreme dangers and irrevocable ramifications when driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.”

On Christmas night, December 25, 38-year-old Teodulo Nava Clemente was driving the wrong way on northbound Highway 101 in Santa Barbara when he crashed his Toyota Tundra pickup truck into a minivan just past the Bath Street off-ramp, according to the DA’s Office. 

Nava Clemente allegedly had a blood alcohol content of greater than 0.20 percent and was driving with a suspended license as the result of a prior DUI conviction, the DA’s Office stated. 

The 49-year-old driver of the minivan and one passenger sustained great bodily injuries, while a third person involved in the collision had moderate injuries. A multi-casualty incident was declared as a result of the accident, according to City Fire.

Nava Clemente’s pickup ended up on its side, and he had to be extricated from the wreckage of the vehicle. At least three other vehicles sustained damage from debris in the roadway, but none of the occupants were injured. Northbound traffic was detoured off the freeway at Bath Street and the freeway was shut down until the next morning. 

Nava Clemente’s felony charges include two counts of driving under the influence causing injury and one count of driving into oncoming traffic, as well as inflicting injury on more than one victim and causing great bodily injury within 10 years of two prior DUI convictions. An arraignment date has not yet been set. 

In the early-morning hours of the same day, 27-year-old Bladimir Agustin Chavez was allegedly involved in a fatal head-on collision on Highway 166 and West Main Street, about a mile west of Bonita School Road in Santa Maria. 

He is being charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury, and driving with a blood alcohol content above the legal limit of 0.08 percent (in addition, he is being charged with driving with a blood alcohol content of .15 percent or higher). 

Around 1:30 a.m. Christmas morning, Chavez was driving east on Highway 166 in a Toyota Camry at an unknown speed when he veered over the double yellow lines, crashing head-on into a westbound Infinity sedan and killing the driver, according to the California Highway Patrol. 

The driver of the sedan, 65-year-old Gregorio Dominguez of Guadalupe, was pronounced dead at the scene. 

According to Deputy District Attorney Tyson McCoy, Chavez was driving without a license and had 11 empty Modelo beer bottles in the vehicle. 

A preliminary screening found that Chavez’s blood alcohol content was 0.14 percent about 30 minutes after emergency personnel responded to the crash, McCoy said, adding that Chavez’s BAC was likely closer to 0.15 percent at the time of the crash.

Chavez was arraigned on Wednesday, December 27, in the Santa Maria division of the Santa Barbara Superior Court, and attended the hearing remotely from jail. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and sought to be released from jail, based on defense attorney Maria Martino’s argument that Chavez did not have any prior criminal history and would wear an electronic monitoring device.

However, Judge Kristy Imel denied his release. Chavez remains in custody with a bail set at $250,000. If Chavez does post bail, the judge ordered him not to drive, to refrain from alcohol and any bars or liquor stores, and to surrender his passport.

A preliminary hearing is set for January 3, 2024, with a preliminary hearing conference set for January 2, 2024, in Department 6 of the Santa Maria courthouse.