Despite seatbelts and airbags, a single car collision resulted in one death and injuries to the others in the car.
The car was traveling along Hartnell and hit one of the poles on the right
According to the Redding police, on Saturday night at 8 pm, they received a call reporting a collision on Hartnell Road near Argyle in rural south east Redding. The caller reported a Subaru Impreza had run into a utility pole on the side of the road. Emergency responders found the wrecked car with airbags deployed. It also appeared that all four occupants had been wearing seatbelts at the time of the collision. The two women in the car, however, had serious enough injuries to be taken to Mercy Medical Center via ambulance.
The driver of the car, identified as Zachary K. Gleason, 23 and currently of Central Point Oregon, had left the vehicle and was found a short distance away. He told officers that he was the driver, and that he had also been drinking earlier that day. Witnesses on the scene also confirmed he was the one who had been driving and had left the car. Some reports state that he was attempting to flee the scene when he was detained. He was arrested nearby on an initial charge of driving under the influence of alcohol. One of the three passengers, 22-year-old Michael Filomeo of Redding, showed signs of minor abrasions, but declined any treatment.
The two young women who had been transported to the hospital were 20-year-old Natalie Slivka and 21-year-old Mayra Lopez, both of Redding. Lopez has complaints of pain and abrasions, but Slivka’s injuries were much worse. She eventually died at the hospital. It appears that the collision affected the right side of the car as it sheared the telephone pole at the side of the road, and that the two young women were seated on that side of the car. Slivka was in the back seat.
This was not Gleason’s first incident drinking and driving. Police reported that Gleason had a prior arrest for DUI last year.
According to his Facebook profile, Gleason is originally from Redding, and attended Shasta College. He had moved to Oregon and was working at one of the Dutch Brothers Coffee locations in Medford while living in nearby Central Point, just to the north.
He was booked into Shasta County Jail on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol above 0.8%, DUI causing injury, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, and second degree murder. Bail was set at $1,025,000.00, and he is scheduled to appear in court today for preliminary hearing.
The relationships between the four in the car is not clear, but they were all Facebook friends, and it is thought that Gleason was visiting home from Oregon. One guest post on the KRCT TV stated that Natalie Slivka was Gleason’s younger brother’s girlfriend. Another commenter said that “Natalie “Noodle” Slivka was one of the really great kids in my son’s high school group of friends. Couldn’t be a bigger tragedy for her family and friends.”
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