Pelosi’s deadly driving history
‘DUI’ husband killed brother in crash
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband killed his older brother when he flipped his sports car in California — 65 years before he was charged with drunken driving after crashing his car following a weekend dinner party, newspaper clippings show.
Paul Pelosi was 16 when he crashed his car near San Mateo in the early hours of Feb. 22, 1957, following a joyride, the Daily Mail reported Tuesday, citing a local news report from the time.
His brother, David Pelosi, 19, was likely strangled by a neck brace he had been wearing due to a previous neck fracture, according to the San Francisco Examiner report.
Paul, who suffered a broken collarbone in the wreck, called for help after breaking free from his car.
Highway Patrolman Thomas Ganley claimed at the time that Paul said his older brother had urged him to slow down in the moments before the crash.
“This is a bad stretch — better slow down,” David (inset) is said to have told his brother.
Paul had told authorities he tried to shift gears and slow down but lost control of his vehicle.
“The car veered across the road, bounced back from a small embankment, climbed 20 feet up another, spun around and somersaulted simultaneously and ended upside down on the shoulder with both youths underneath,” the report said.
Paul’s brother was pronounced dead after he arrived at Mills Memorial Hospital in San Mateo.
The patrolman said he planned to cite Paul for misdemeanor manslaughter, but the case never made it to court and the then-teen was exonerated by a coroner’s jury.
Details of the fatal wreck emerged in the wake of Paul’s arrest following his alleged drunken crash in Napa Valley on Saturday night. Paul, now 82, was driving home alone from a dinner party when he crashed, his lawyer said.
The lawyer said Paul had stopped at an intersection before turning onto State Route 29 when his 2021 Porsche “was hit on the back fender by a Jeep.”
“Mr. Pelosi was fully cooperative with California Highway Patrol officers who arrived a few minutes later,” he added.
The California Highway Patrol said the crash happened at 10:26 p.m. — around 10 minutes after the former venture capitalist is said to have left the party. He was arrested at 11:44 p.m., the force said, without explaining the gap of more than an hour.
“Mr. Pelosi left the dinner party at 10:15 p.m. Saturday,” his attorney insisted. “The incident happened a few minutes later. CHP and Napa County processing took until 7:30 a.m. Sunday.”
Paul, who has been married to Nancy since 1963, was charged with one count of driving under the influence and another for driving with a blood alcohol content level of 0.08 or higher.