SACRAMENTO -- The CHP on Monday recommended reckless-driving charges against state Sen. Carole Migden, who took an erratic 30-mile drive down Interstate 80 before slamming her state-owned car into another car last month.
The CHP also has asked the Department of Motor Vehicles to re-evaluate Migden's fitness to drive, CHP Sgt. Les Bishop said.
The San Francisco Democrat's district includes southern Sonoma County, including Petaluma and Rohnert Park.
The state is liable for any damage because Migden has said she was on state business at the time of her crash.
CHP investigators determined Migden was at fault in two separate crashes in her 2007 Toyota Highlander Hybrid sport utility vehicle on May 18. After the incidents became public, Migden revealed she was diagnosed with leukemia in 1997 and said medication she still takes daily may have been to blame.
In the first crash, Migden made an "unsafe turning movement" and struck the guard rail along I-80 in Vallejo, Bishop said.
In the second, she was traveling at an unsafe speed when she turned onto Highway 12 in Fairfield and rear-ended a car carrying a woman and her 3-year-old daughter, forcing that car to hit a van in front of it, Bishop said.
He declined to say how fast investigators believe Migden was driving.
"In both collisions, inattention due to distraction by cell phone use was found to be a contributing factor," Bishop said.
Last year, Migden voted for a law that requires drivers to use a headset or other hands-free device when talking on a cell phone while driving. The law takes effect in July 2008.
Solano County Chief Deputy District Attorney Kathryn Coffer said she received the report Monday afternoon from the CHP and needs to review the case before deciding whether to file charges against Migden.
"We still have to review the 911 calls, and there's some additional investigation that we want to do. Hopefully, that will be completed within a week to 10 days," Coffer said.
Reckless driving is a misdemeanor in most cases, unless the victims suffer great bodily injury or the driver has prior convictions for reckless driving, which prosecutors do not believe is the case with Migden, Coffer said.
The CHP received about a half-dozen emergency calls from other motorists on the day of Migden's accident, some of whom said she nearly ran them off the road. Migden said afterward that she could not recall the wild ride.
In the Fairfield accident, the woman and 3-year-old in the Honda sedan, which was slowing to stop at a traffic light when rear-ended, were treated at a hospital.
The impact pushed their car into a heating-and-air-conditioning service van, whose driver, Bob Jordan of Turlock, was uninjured.
Jordan said after the accident that two drivers who followed Migden off I-80 berated her, with one saying she'd run him off the road.
"She kept saying, `You can't talk to me like that, I'm a state senator,' " Jordan said. "She was kind of wobbly. She didn't seem alert. She was not acting normally."
In a statement released Monday, Migden said, "I am very sorry about the accident which I caused. I am not driving. I am in the process of undergoing a medical evaluation, and I will in no way shirk my responsibility for what happened."
Bishop noted investigators conducted field sobriety tests at the time of the crash and found no indication Migden was under the influence of alcohol or drugs. But he said the CHP has filed a request for driver re-evaluation with the DMV.
"That's a tool that we have to make sure that we keep the roadways safe," he said. "Given the circumstances of these collisions, we felt that it was an appropriate action to request that the DMV re-evaluate the senator's driving abilities."