Exclusive: DUI crash victim speak out

In the span of three days, Cathedral City saw two DUI-related crashes. The most recent one came on Tuesday, when a suspect under the influence of methamphetamine rolled clip a car and rolled his on Rango Street.

On Wednesday night, another alleged driver under the influence collided with a police car which was stopped to investigate a separate DUI crash on Cathedral Canyon Drive. The crash resulted in injuries to the officer, a prisoner in the back of the cruiser, and a forensic nurse on the scene to assist with the DUI crash.

Zak Dahlheimer sat down for an exclusive interview with Cherlyn Daves, the nurse injured in the crash. She is currently in recovery at Desert Regional in Palm Springs.

“My car got hit and I got hit by my own car. My car and the police car I parked next to both got hit at the same time,” said Daves. “I guess the police officer’s car door was open. And that threw him out of his car.”

Daves is expected to recover, but this brush with death isn’t an entirely new experience for her.

“It’s been very, very hard. I mean, seriously. who gets hit twice in a lifetime by a drunk driver?” said Daves.

14 years ago, Daves was struck by a drunken driver for the first time. Now, she’s speaking out in an effort to push for stricter DUI laws.