CHP MML File Photo
Sonora, CA – The CHP reports the 19-year-old Sonora man involved in a DUI fatal crash on Phoenix Lake Road that killed a Sonora mother and seriously injured her four children now sits in jail on an over $230,000 bail.
Augustus Matthew Marinovich was officially arrested moments after being released from Memorial Medical Center in Modesto. He was flown from the scene of the deadly head-on collision near Bear Club Drive last Monday, as reported here. The CHP reports Marinovich was speeding while intoxicated and lost control of his pickup crashing into 33-year-old Melissa Katherine Marie Patania’s SUV.
Patania was pronounced dead at the scene and her four children inside the SUV, three boys, and a girl all under the age of 14 had to be flown from the scene. The youngest, a 6-year-old boy, suffered a life-threatening skull fracture, as detailed here. The CHP had no update on the children’s conditions.
Marinovich arrest charges include DUI with death/bodily injury, DUI alcohol with death, and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.
Written by Tracey Petersen.
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