Update: Fire Captain Charged With Being Three Times Over the Alcohol Limit in Hit and Run of Bicyclist

A Long Beach fire captain was charged today with felony DUI hit and run for allegedly driving into a Seal Beach cyclist earlier this month. Prosecutors said John David Hines had a blood alcohol level of .24 percent, three times the legal limit, at the time of the accident.

Hines, 38, of Huntington Beach, was charged with a felony count of driving under the influence of alcohol causing bodily injury, driving with a blood alcohol level of .08 percent or more causing injury, hit and run with injury, and sentencing enhancements and allegations for causing great bodily injury and having a blood alcohol level over .20 percent.

If convicted, Hines faces a maximum six years and eight months in state prison, said a spokesperson for the Orange County District Attorney’s office. A $250,000 warrant has been issued for Hines’ arrest. His arraignment date is to be determined.

“Instead of staying to render aid, he left the victim like common road kill in a pool of blood, and fled the scene…it is egregious,” said Deputy District Attorney Andrew Katz of the Special Prosecutions Unit. “It’s 1 in the afternoon, he’s three times the legal limit. He’s a firefighter, no less, someone whose job it is to aid people in medical distress. It’s not some 18-year-old kid who had too much to drink. He knows better. He should know better.”

According to prosecutors, on April 1, Hines spent the morning drinking at a Long Beach restaurant called Schooner or Later, then drove his truck down Westminster Avenue in Seal Beach. Investigators said he swerved off the road and crashed into 47-year-old bicyclist Jeffrey Gordon.

“The force of the impact from the crash caused by Hines left a blood splatter on the defendant’s vehicle and resulted in major front-end fender and hood damage,” a district attorney’s spokesperson said in a written release.

Gordon was thrown more than 70 feet and landed on the shoulder of the road, according to prosecutors. Witnesses said Hines failed to slow or brake after hitting Gordon, and then drove to his home while being chased by witnesses.

The impact of the high-speed collision broke the windshield and nearly disabled Long Hines’ Chevy Silverado, said witnesses who chased Hines, honking and screaming at him to pull over, as he drove several blocks from the crash scene to his Huntington Beach home.

Billy Chisholm said he was a passenger in one of those pursuing vehicles.

“I was sick to my stomach the whole time,” Chisholm recalled. “He just hit him and left him to die like he was a skunk in the road. He had to have known he hit him because his truck was all busted up. That was a human being he left there to die. It’s not right.”

Gordon spent two weeks in the hospital. According to investigators, he suffered head trauma, severe lacerations and bruising to his head and body, internal injuries, and spinal and vertebrae injuries. He continues to suffer limited physical mobility and speech and memory loss.

On the day of the incident, Hines was arrested and then released on $50,000 bail. With today’s warrant, he can turn himself in or police will arrest him, said Katz.

“We are hoping that he will turn himself in as soon as possible,” said Katz.

Hines’ attorney Vince Tucci has been in contact with the prosecutor’s office. Tucci did not return phone calls for comment Wednesday.