By Erin Tracy
The Modesto Bee
MODESTO, Calif. — A Turlock man was arrested Thursday night after fleeing the scene of a head-on collision in Hickman, then driving more than four miles without two of his tires.
Multiple people called 911 to report the fleeing Dodge Durango as it smoked, sparked and swerved all over the roadway, said California Highway Patrol Officer Nicholas Hunter.
The crash occurred on Hickman Road south of Sixth Street just before 9 p.m.
Terry Reed Stanger II, 29, was driving the Durango south on Hickman and crossed into the northbound lane of traffic, Hunter said. The driver of a Kia Rio heading north tried to avoid the Durango but crashed with it nearly head-on.
The driver of the Kia suffered moderate injuries including a broken nose and lacerations but Hunter said his evasive action spared injury to his girlfriend, who was in the passenger seat.
Debris from the crash damaged another vehicle that was behind the Kia but no one in that vehicle was injured.
The Durango continued south on Hickman then west on Whitmore avenue.
Hunter said four or five people called to report the Durango, some of them motorists who had to swerve to avoid being hit by it, others people who came out of their homes because they heard the Durango’s rims scraping on the asphalt.
Battalion Chief Eric DeHart of the Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District said the Durango left debris for miles in its wake, with items flying out of the utility trailer. At Gratton Road and Whitmore the rims, both on the left side, sparked a small vegetation fire.
The Durgano eventually stopped when it again crossed into the opposing lane and crashed into an irrigation pipe on the south side of Whitmore, Hunter said.
Stanger was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.
Copyright 2017 The Modesto Bee