Local Bartender Involved in Alleged DUI Crash into Residential Gas Main

Police arrested a woman who works at a local bar several weeks ago after she allegedly crashed into a home's gas main on Washington Avenue in the early morning hours after authorities said she had been drinking. 

Police said Nicole Gayles was coming from her place of work, Club Mallard, just before 2 a.m. on Jan. 28 when she crashed her car into a residential gas line in the 800 block of Washington. 

Police began getting calls about the crash at 1:49 a.m., said Sgt. Bob Christianson of the Albany Police Department.

"Everyone has a main line into the house and it got severed," he said, sending the smell of rotten eggs spewing into the area. Christianson said that, though natural gas doesn't have a smell on its own, an aroma is introduced into it chemically to alert people of possible problems in the event of a leak.

Police officer Pete O'Connor was one of the officers who responded to the early-morning crash. 

He said several nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution. PG&E shut off the gas within about two-and-a-half hours, and officials ventilated the home that was struck as a precaution, "to make sure there was no risk of explosion."

Police placed the driver, identified later as 35-year-old Gayles of Richmond, under arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence. Neither she nor her passenger sustained injuries in the accident, and the home remained habitable, said O'Connor.

"We're just very fortunate no one got hurt," he added. 

If there's something in this article you think should be corrected, or if something else is amiss, call editor Emilie Raguso at 510-459-8325 or email her at albany@patch.com.