Paul Pelosi is facing fresh legal scrutiny over his driving for the second time in four years, and Our News Outlet can exclusively report that his record stretches back far longer, with nearly $9,000 in traffic fines accumulated over the years.
Pelosi, 86, did not attend his arraignment hearing today in connection with a July 4th weekend hit-and-run crash in Yountville, the small Napa Valley wine country town where authorities say he struck a parked Tesla.
During a brief hearing in Napa County on Friday morning, his attorney, Amanda Bevins, entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. Pelosi is charged with one misdemeanor count of hit and run stemming from the incident.
After the collision, Pelosi allegedly drove off before his convertible came to a stop less than half a mile from the crash site on Yountville Cross Road.
The case has also triggered a referral of Pelosi’s driver’s license to the Department of Motor Vehicles for an evaluation because of his age, in addition to the misdemeanor hit-and-run charge he now faces.
Pelosi is due back in Napa County court on Friday, August 14. Officials have said body camera footage connected to the case will be released once the matter is concluded.
The businessman previously ran into trouble in Napa in 2022, when he crashed his 2021 Porsche sports car into another vehicle after what was described as a boozy outing.
In that earlier incident, Pelosi was taken to jail after the crash, which occurred as he was driving home from a dinner party in nearby Oakville.
But Our News Outlet can also reveal that the dad-of-four has also faced the law over his shaky skills behind the wheel repeatedly in San Mateo County, south of San Francisco where the Pelosis maintain another palatial home, and in Marin County to the north.
Paul Pelosi, 86, the husband of Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi, is accused of striking a parked Tesla before driving away from the scene over the July 4 holiday weekend
Seen here is the repaired Tesla outside of the property that was struck and damaged by Pelosi before he came to a stop some distance up the road at the Yountville crossroads last month
In April 2013, Pelosi was forced to pony up a fine of $582 after busting a red light on a busy road called Camino Real in Millbrae, a small city close to San Francisco airport.
At the time, Pelosi already had a previous record in San Mateo County having been collared in June 2011 for busting the speed limit and doing 90mph in a 60mph zone.
For that, he was slapped with a $417 fine and a stint at traffic school, although his subsequent arrests for dodgy driving suggest he had not learned his lesson.
Astonishingly, Pelosi went on to rack up a further two tickets the same year, both in Napa County, once for crossing double yellow lines near his expansive St Helena vineyard estate and another $490 fine for busting a red light nearby.
And his record of bad driving doesn’t end there.
In 2014, he racked up two convictions in Marin County, north of San Francisco and on the route to Napa, where he was slapped with a $161 fine for being on his cellphone while driving that September.
In December, he was cornered again and hit with a $262 fine for failing to stop at a stop sign although a secondary charge of failing to provide evidence of having car insurance was later dropped.
A short period of calm followed until December 2017 when Pelosi was busted in Marin County for the third time – this time for driving the wrong way down a one-way street.
The sheriff’s department said Paul Pelosi’s brown colored convertible crashed into a parked car on a roadway in Yountville, California
General views of Yountville, California, and the area surrounding the scene of Paul Pelosi’s car accident in early July
He was eventually convicted after a one-day trial in March 2018, found guilty and slapped with yet another fine, this time for $237.
Pelosi also got hit with another much larger fine as a result of the 2022 driving under the influence incident which saw him smash into a car being driven by a man named Jesus Vargas and ended with his own car totaled after it pinged off Vargas’ vehicle and into a fence.
The smash left him unharmed but did see him booked on charges of being over the legal limit.
He later pleaded guilty and was handed three years’ probation by a Napa County judge.
That saw the octogenarian slapped with a $1,723 court fine, $4,927.53 in victim restitution and a $150 victim restitution fine.
Tragically, as Our News Outlet exclusively revealed in 2022, Pelosi was also involved in a fatal smash as a teenager that claimed the life of his older brother.
Pelosi was just 16 at the time of the 1957 smash that saw him flip his sports car south of San Francisco killing older brother David, 19, and him charged with misdemeanor manslaughter.
That charge was later dropped by a coroner’s jury which ruled that David had died due to being strangled by the neck brace he was wearing rather than as a result of the collision.
Pelosi is pictured in 2022 when he was arrested for the DUI. He was not arrested during the July hit-and-run incident but was charged with a misdemeanor. He has also been recommended for his license to be re-evaluated due to his age, which is common for elderly drivers
Pelosi with his 2021 Porsche, which was damaged in the 2022 crash. The other driver was in a 2014 Jeep, which sustained ‘major collision damage’
Pelosi’s latest brush with the law has seen his driving come under scrutiny yet again with friends confiding to the New York Times last month that they believe his latest mishap is a direct consequence of his age and infirmity.
But all four admitted that they had not raised the issue with Pelosi and his wife, Speaker Emeritus Nancy, for fear of wrecking their relationship with the couple.
Following the hit and run, Nancy, who is due to hang up her stilettos and retire from Congress at the age of 86 this November, released a statement saying Pelosi had apologized to the Tesla’s owner.
The statement read: ‘Mr Paul Pelosi has personally apologized to the owner of the vehicle and assured them that he would take responsibility for the damage to their vehicle.’
Photos of the vehicle, taken by Our News Outlet, show the damage has now been fixed with the large dents to the rear caused by the collision now smoothed out.
Daily Mail has reached out to Paul Pelosi for comment.
Bevins told Judge Veronica Juarez that she wanted to schedule an expedited settlement conference which is due to take place on August 24.
Pelosi does not have to appear at the conference which will decide how the case proceeds.
