Hearing delayed for man suspected of crash during Christmas Parade
After waiting nearly two hours for his case to be called, a Kern County Superior Court judge postponed until May the preliminary hearing for the man suspected of crashing his truck into a crowd of people at the Bakersfield Christmas Parade.
Alan Lewis Booth, 72, is charged with four counts of assault with a deadly weapon, two DUI counts and one count of obstructing or resisting a peace officer after he was suspected of driving drunk on 21st and H streets on Dec. 7.
Booth, holding his cane, stood next to his attorney, Jeremy Brehmer of Brehmer Law Corp., as he selected new dates for a pre-preliminary hearing and preliminary
hearing. Brehmer entered a not guilt plea to all the charges on behalf of his client at Booth’s January arraignment. Booth is currently out of custody on a $125,000 bond.
According to the Bakersfield Police Department report, Booth was driving drunk with a blood alcohol level more than three times the legal limit for driving.
Booth told police officers that he drank about a pint of vodka and about two to three beers at home, according to the police report. Officers found an unopened bottle of vodka and an unopened 12-pack of beer in his truck, according to the report.
Police allege that minutes before the Christmas parade started, Booth hit three people, a father and son pair ages 42 and 21, respectively, and Arnold Rios, 77. According to the police report, another person was injured when the person jumped out of the way of Booth’s Ford
F-150 truck.
Police officers tried to get Booth to exit the truck, but when he said he just “wanted to go home” and put his hand on the wheel, officers pulled Booth out of the truck, the BPD report states. Officers had to help Booth walk to the police cars.
On the night of the crash, BPD could not arrest Booth because he was injured when he crashed into a brick wall. Booth was taken to Kern Medical for treatment. Booth was later transferred to Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital, where he was arrested Dec. 28 after his release.
Booth is expected to appear in court for his pre-preliminary hearing on May 30 and his preliminary hearing on May 31.