See also: 4th of July Weekend Checkpoints, DUI Patrols Start Tonight.

The 4th of July holiday always brings out the drunk idiots, but when it kicks off what for many will be a four-day weekend, the true amateurs come out of the wood works to vie for DUI supremacy.

It only took the first three hours of the holiday to reveal a potential winner, a driver who allegedly crashed right into a clearly marked, black-and-white police car. Yep:

It happened about 3 a.m. yesterday at Hacienda Boulevard and Ector Street in La Puente when an old Honda Civic crashed into a sheriff's patrol car, deputies say.

An L.A. County Sheriff's Department statement gives the blow-by-blow:


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The driver of the Honda Civic, who was traveling northbound on Hacienda Boulevard, attempted to make a left turn onto Ector Street. During this turn, the driver of the Honda Civic collided with the marked black and white patrol car as it was traveling southbound on Hacienda Boulevard.

The patrol car traveled across the southbound lanes of Hacienda Boulevard, eventually jumping onto the west sidewalk and crashing into a concrete light pole. The light pole fell onto the roof top and the trunk of the patrol car then came to rest on the west sidewalk.

Luckily the deputy behind the wheel walked away and was deemed to be okay after being checked out at a hospital, sheriff's officials said.

The Honda's driver, 28-year-old Salvador Sanchez of La Puente, was hospitalized with unknown injuries, deputies said. He was arrested at the hospital on suspicion of — you guessed it — DUI and causing injury to another while drunk driving.

His bail was set at $100,000.

The sad thing is that this weekend is only getting started. Stay tuned. And stay safe.

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