The highway patrol arrested /*Victor Medellin*/, 50, over the weekend on suspicion of drunk driving. He was just released from prison earlier this year after serving time for a crash which killed a correctional officer.
The area of Highway 99 near Avenue 12 in Madera County is where CHP officers arrested Victor Medellin for driving under the influence and on a suspended license Saturday. It's only a few miles from the spot where Medellin killed correctional officer /*Jeff Todisco*/ in a drunk driving crash exactly five years earlier. The timing shocked Todisco's daughter.
Heather O'Neal said, "I got chills because you almost have to think that's a sign from god or him up above, saying you know what you're drunken driving again, I'm gonna get you where you need to be so you don't kill anyone else."
Heather O'Neal's father was riding a tractor back to his home on Avenue 11 when Medellin crashed into him from behind. The impact flipped the tractor and knocked Todisco to the ground. Family members rushed to help him, but there was nothing they could do.
Heather O'Neal said, "My daughter was 4 at the time, so my dad didn't get to see her go to her first horse show or swing her first bat at her softball games. He missed so much of those little things in life."
Medellin served about four years in prison for vehicular manslaughter, and was just released on parole in February. But that wasn't his first arrest. Madera County jail records show he was also booked in 1998, and twice in 2003 on a variety of drug related charges. Now the 50-year-old is being held without bail at the jail where Todisco worked for nearly a decade.
Sgt. Wayne Stonecipher said, "He was the founder of our correctional union, he was the one who got the ball rolling on that, he was always there helping anybody and everybody."
Now Todisco's former co-workers say they're just thankful officers arrested Medellin before he could hurt anyone else.
Mark Clarke said, "It's just a good thing they did pick him up on it because obviously he hasn't learned his lesson, and the streets are a little safer with him behind bars."
