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Arrest made in DUI crash
Ceres Cop Car

Zachary Rayford, 29, of Modesto, was arrested for DUI causing bodily injury after he allegedly tried to pass himself off as a passenger in the car he crashed.

The crash occurred at 4:08 a.m. on Sept. 24 in front of 2512 Caswell Avenue. Officer Krandell Vandagriff arrived and found Rayford and Jessica Johnson, 26, of Ceres, standing on the sidewalk near the crashed car. Johnson had a bleeding laceration on her forehead which seemed to match a crack in the windshield on the passenger side. The crack also contained strands of long hair in the crack that seemed to match Jessica's hair. Johnson displayed signs and symptoms of alcohol impairment and admitted to consuming alcoholic beverages and initially insisted she was driving the vehicle. She later recanted and admitted that Rayford was driving. Rayford, too, had a heavy odor of alcohol on his breath, had slurred speech and red and watery eyes. The keys to the car were found in his right front pocket.

Rayford admitted to drinking "a good amount" of alcohol while at a party but refused to conduct a field sobriety test or answer any further questions. After a judge signed a warrant for police to obtain a blood sample, Rayford was taken to Doctors Medical Center where a sample of his blood was taken to be sent to the Department of Justice for analysis.

He was booked into the County Jail for DUI causing bodily injury.