Two wrecks in three days close Stage Gulch Road

A pair of alcohol-related accidents on Stage Gulch Road killed one man and sent two others to jail last week.
The CHP says 46-year-old Curtis Kapple was eastbound at 70 mph around 5:30 p.m. Thursday, July 31, when his 1969 Pontiac GTO came up behind a 1999 Mazda Miata driven by 61-year-old Philip Dennie, also of Sonoma.
Kapple reportedly accelerated and crossed over the double yellow lines into oncoming traffic. He then tried to return to his own lane, but clipped the Miata and drove into and under a guardrail on the south side of the roadway just west of Watmaugh Road.
Dennie’s car veered off the road and onto the shoulder. A spokesperson for the Sonoma County Coroner said Kapple’s passenger, 47-year-old Sonoma resident Rick Allen DeGeorgis, was pronounced dead at the scene shortly before 6 p.m.
Dennie was unhurt, but Kapple suffered minor injuries and was transported to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Stage Gulch Road was closed to traffic for three hours.
“Alcohol is a factor that we are in fact investigating,” CHP officer Jaret Paulson said Friday. He said Kapple’s blood-alcohol level could not be released due to the ongoing investigation.
Sirens screamed up Stage Gulch Road again Saturday night, this time just after 11 p.m. for a four-vehicle accident just west of the dump. According to the CHP report, 28-year-old Simon Alavez of Petaluma was traveling westbound in a 2003 Toyota Tacoma when he changed lanes over the double yellow lines on a curved part of the road. The Tacoma struck the left side of an oncoming 1992 Acura Integra driven by 19-year-old Sonoma resident Johnathon Aubin, then rolled on its right side and collided with a guardrail on the road’s north edge.
The Integra came to rest in the eastbound lane and was sideswiped by an eastbound 2002 Ford Explorer – which was in turn struck by a 2005 Chevy Colorado.
Aubin was transported via helicopter to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with a broken ankle, ruptured spleen and facial cuts. The Explorer’s driver, 25-year-old Alondra Moya of Antioch, was also flown to Memorial Hospital as a precaution, and her passenger, 32-year-old Juan Moya was taken to Sonoma Valley Hospital with facial scrapes.
Alavez suffered minor injuries to his right ear and was taken to Sonoma Valley Hospital for evaluation before being booked into county jail for DUI. The Colorado’s driver, 53-year-old Boyes Hot Springs resident Angel Vasques, was not injured.