On Thursday, September 24th, the Sonoma County Coroner’s Office identified the pedestrian killed in a traffic accident in Petaluma, California. The coroner revealed the victim’s name as Mario Gongora Casteneda, 53, a city resident.

The accident report came in on Tuesday, September 22nd, at about 7:07 p.m. It happened at the roundabout of South McDowell Boulevard and Baywood Drive. The Petaluma Police said that a 2011 Toyota Prius struck Casteneda as he stood on a sidewalk.

After the collision, two off-duty police officers and an off-duty nurse performed first aid on the victim until the first responders arrived at the scene. Personnel from the Petaluma Fire Department rushed the victim to the hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds.

The PPD identified the Toyota’s driver as 41-year-old James Watkins of Cotati. Officers located the man sitting in his car after it rested in the middle of the roundabout. They suspected he was under the influence after speaking with him and placed him under arrest.

The suspect was uninjured from the collision, but the police took him to the hospital for DUI testing. The police’s Traffic Unit said that their preliminary investigation uncovered that Watkins was southbound on McDowell when he drove onto the sidewalk and struck Casteneda.

Officers booked the driver into the Sonoma County Jail on charges of felony DUI and vehicular manslaughter. He was released after posting a $100,000 bail on Wednesday, September 23rd. Anyone with information on the occurrence should call Office Mike Pierre on the listed line.

Disclaimer: The Accident News article you just read includes information obtained from numerous sources. These sources include, but are not limited to, websites and press releases from law enforcement, the county coroner, fire departments, and other news outlets. While we strive to provide readers with the most accurate information, sometimes the information received is not entirely accurate. For complete details, please refer to an official police report.

The articles published contain sensitive subject matter that may be hard to read by some. We understand that losing a loved one is hard and devastating. Accident News’s decision to share the stories is to help others who may be facing the same situations by providing appropriate resources to the general public.

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