Local News

FAIRFIELD (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ― State Sen. Carole Migden caused a panic among fellow drivers last May when she drove out of control in her state-issued SUV for 30 miles on Interstate 80, according to 911 tapes released late Friday.

A series of callers between Berkeley and Fairfield, where Migden's wild ride finally ended after she rear-ended another car, described her as coming perilously close to hitting other vehicles, weaving back and forth across multiple lanes of traffic, and careening repeatedly off the center median barrier.

One caller described motorists putting on their vehicles' hazard lights in an apparent attempt to warn others away from Migden's Toyota Highlander hybrid. Another caller feared she was drunk.

A young woman told an emergency dispatcher she thought the vehicle Migden was driving might be stolen.

"He's like, he's been weaving in and out of lanes, he's driving in the middle of lanes, he almost hit the back of our car, and then he sped up and almost hit another car," the woman said on the emergency line, unaware that the SUV's driver was a woman. "He's driving really fast right now and—oh my god, he's about to hit another car."

A later caller warned a dispatcher, as the vehicles passed Vallejo on eastbound Interstate 80, that Migden could cause "a major injury accident."

"I've witnessed her hit the center, center divide already once. She's been crossing three lanes at a time, wandering back and forth. She's been on the phone, reading a book. ... She's doing about 80. .. She's really scary—watch out."

The California Highway Patrol released the 911 tapes from the May 18 freeway episode Friday in response to a California Public Records Act request filed by The Associated Press and other media. The release came hours after Migden, a San Francisco Democrat, pleaded no contest in Solano County Superior Court to misdemeanor reckless driving.

Migden's journey down the highway had been described previously in general terms, but the emergency tapes reveal for the first time the level of panic the lawmaker caused among fellow drivers. There were nine calls to emergency dispatchers within 27 minutes. One woman called back twice and a man three times.

"She's about to hit the car right now—oh my god," one caller told a dispatcher. "Ma'am, you should send the highway patrol right now because she almost hit the divider again. This lady's all over the place."

Another described Migden as "completely out of control."

"He's swerving on the road and, uh, nearly hitting a lot of cars, and he's hitting the middle, the median," the caller said.

Motorists reported Migden was driving erratically in her 2007 Toyota Highlander for miles on Interstate 80 on May 18. She finally rear-ended another car on Beck Avenue at state Highway 12 in Fairfield -- sending a Vallejo woman and her 3-year-old daughter to the hospital.

After the incident, Migden revealed in an interview with CBS 5 that she had been taking medication to fight leukemia and claimed her poor driving was likely because of her medical condition.

But Migden has maintained the medication won't affect her ability to continue as a state senator.

On Thursday, she issued a statement saying she accepted full responsibility for the accident. Her senate and campaign aides on Friday said she would have no further comment.

Migden, 58, voluntarily stopped driving after the freeway incident. She explained that the poor driving may have been caused by a medical condition. Migden said she has taken medication since being diagnosed with leukemia in 1997.

The highway patrol ruled out alcohol as a factor.

Migden did not appear in court Friday, when she was sentenced to two years of informal probation and ordered to pay $710 in fines and court fees.

Her Ukiah attorney Ann Moorman entered the plea after the reckless driving charge was filed earlier Friday.

The Solano County District Attorney's Office said under the terms of her informal probation, Migden is not required to report regularly with the county probation office.

A condition of her probation is that she cannot drive unless the California Department of Motor Vehicles lifts the indefinite suspension of her driver's license it imposed last month.

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