Eureka crash injures passenger, Anderson woman booked on DUI charges
A parked car was hit on Williams Street before dawn, sending one passenger to the hospital and leaving an Anderson woman booked on felony DUI charges.
A parked car on the 2100 block of Williams Street took the hit before sunrise, turning a quiet Eureka residential block into a crash scene with injuries, a fleeing passenger and a DUI arrest. One passenger remained at the scene and was later taken to a local hospital with moderate injuries.
Eureka police responded at about 4:20 a.m. on June 11 after the collision in the 2100 block of Williams Street. Officers found the driver, 24-year-old Leiada Masten of Anderson, and one passenger still there, while a second passenger had already fled before police arrived. During the investigation, officers said Masten showed objective signs of alcohol intoxication.
Police booked Masten into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on felony driving under the influence causing injury and felony driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or greater causing injury. California Vehicle Code section 23153 makes it unlawful to drive under the influence, or at a BAC of 0.08 percent or more, and commit a driving act or neglect a duty that proximately causes bodily injury to someone other than the driver.
The crash underscores how quickly an early-morning wreck on a neighborhood street can become more than a fender-bender. Williams Street is a residential corridor, and when a vehicle strikes a parked car there at dawn, the consequences reach beyond bent metal. Injuries, a damaged vehicle and a criminal investigation follow, along with the question of whether the driver was impaired enough to put passengers and nearby residents at risk.
The case also comes as Eureka police continue to emphasize DUI enforcement. On May 8, 2026, the Eureka Police Department conducted a driver’s-license and DUI checkpoint at Broadway and Fifth Street from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., part of the city’s broader effort to stop impaired drivers before they cause another crash. The department also maintains a public arrest and calls-for-service portal through the City of Eureka’s Citizen RIMS system, which can provide follow-up booking and case information as it is posted.
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office uploads jail reports every morning, and the correctional facility at 826 4th Street in Eureka can be reached at (707) 441-5159. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says drowsy driving is preventable and can be especially dangerous in the morning, but police in this case attributed the arrest to alcohol impairment rather than fatigue.
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