By Avalon Amaral
SACRAMENTO, CA – An Arby’s drive-through lane should be credited with an assist in the arrest late last year of a suspected DUI driver with a history of drunk driving and vehicular manslaughter, after details of the arrest were disclosed here last week in Sacramento County Superior Court.
On Oct. 27, 2020, a man was attempting to exit an Arby’s drive-through in Sacramento County when he inadvertently got his truck stuck on a curb and was unable to drive away.
That “assist” could have saved someone’s life, because when the officer arrived at the scene, he realized he knew the driver from a previous DUI that had resulted in a death.
The driver of the immobilized truck was Brenden Blom, who was convicted of vehicular manslaughter and a DUI in 2014 and was sentenced to six years in prison.
District Attorney Mai Trieu called California Highway Patrol Officer Brian Galley to the stand. Galley told the court that when he first encountered Blom, he observed that Blom had “red and watery eyes and I detected the odor of alcohol on his person.“
Blom admitted to consuming three to four Heineken beers prior to sitting behind the wheel, said Galley. The DUI report stated that Blom’s alcohol level was greater than 0.08, which resulted in an additional charge to this case.
Blom’s Defense Attorney David Knoll argued that a DUI charge shouldn’t be applicable in this case because Blom was in a drive-through and not on a public road. Judge Delbert Oros stated that DUI charges still apply and concluded that a trial will be held for Blom, setting Blom’s next court date for late April.
Avalon Amaral, originally from Livermore CA, is a junior at UC Davis. She is pursuing a degree in Sociology, Emphasizing in Law and Society, and minoring in Psychology.
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