Ornamental tractor near Winters city line destroyed by errant driver
A driver who crashed his vehicle into the tractor was arrested for driving on a suspended license.
(Image courtesy Google Street View, Graphic by Solano NewsNet)
A tractor that greeted visitors coming into the City of Winters from Solano County was destroyed earlier this month by a reckless driver.
The tractor was damaged last Tuesday after a speeding motorist made an unsafe turning movement on Railroad Avenue near Russell Street, a Winters Police Department spokesperson told the local newspaper there.
Photos posted to social media showed the tractor split into multiple pieces. It was removed by city workers later in the day, eyewitnesses said.
Gerardo Perez, 33, was arrested and charged with driving on a suspended license, a police official said. It was not clear if Perez was driving under the influence of a substance at the time of the crash.
The tractor made its debut in the center median along Railroad Avenue a few years ago after it was procured by Charles Wallace, the former publisher and owner of the Winters Express newspaper.
“I was proud of that tractor and thought of it as my own, which it was for a week or two,” Wallace wrote in his weekly newspaper column. “A few people still think it was my tractor, but it belongs to the City of Winters.”
Wallace said he was unsure if the city intends to repair the tractor.
The City of Winters host a tractor parade as part of its annual tree-lighting ceremony each winter holiday season.
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