Cops Defend Handling of Crash / Feinstein's spouse didn't act drunk at scene, they say

San Francisco police say that investment banker Richard Blum did not receive preferential treatment following a minor traffic incident on Russian Hill this week -- despite a witness's claim that the husband of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein was being treated with kid gloves.

After losing control of his BMW and sideswiping a parked car, Blum appeared dizzy and disoriented, police and the witness said yesterday.

But officers at the scene said they saw no sign that Blum was under the influence of alcohol or drugs, so they did not subject the financier to blood-alcohol tests, police said.

At the request of police, Blum used his cell phone to call employees of his company, Richard C. Blum and Associates, to pick him up.

"We could carry on a conversation with him and everything, and he dialed the number with his cell phone on the first try," said Sergeant Phil Downs, one of two sergeants who came to the scene.

To be on the safe side, Officer Mark Laherty called for an ambulance. Paramedics also could find no evidence of drug or alcohol use.

Blum said a combination of dehydration from a weekend of long- distance running, medication he takes for neck pain and antihistamines for his allergies caused the dizziness. He conceded he was "dozing off" when he struck the parked car.

"I've never had anything like that happen in my life," said Blum. He said he went for a two-hour run on Saturday and a three-hour run Sunday and may have been more dehydrated than he thought.

The accident occurred about 9 a.m. Monday on the southbound side of Jones Street near the intersection with Vallejo Street. The witness, real estate developer John Willis, said he noticed Blum's car in the 1200 block of Vallejo when "it came within an inch of hitting my car."

Willis said he followed as the car made a right turn from the left lane, then sideswiped a parked car.

He said he recognized Blum as the financier got out of his car to leave a note on the damaged car's windshield. "He appeared very disoriented. He looked as though he was drunk. I'm not saying he was drunk, but he looked bewildered and disoriented."

Willis said Blum didn't even notice as Willis took Blum's car keys out of his car. A few moments later, Willis said, Blum tried to start his car with his house keys.

Downs said Willis was outraged at what he considered kid-gloves treatment of Blum, but Downs and the other sergeant at the scene, Tom O'Connell, said he was being treated like any other citizen.

Downs said he had barely returned to the Central Police Station when he began receiving news media calls about the incident. Willis denied calling the media, saying it was apparently construction workers who saw the incident from a nearby rooftop.

Willis did, however, fax The Chronicle a copy of the note he said Blum left on the car's windshield. The note, which Willis said was written on the back of a credit card receipt, was nearly incomprehensible.

Blum told police he would seek medical attention on his own. He told The Chronicle he went to the hospital at his wife's urging and doctors found nothing wrong with him.

A spokesman for Mount Zion Medical Center confirmed that Blum came to the emergency room at 1:24 p.m. and was examined for about an hour before being sent home in good condition.

Blum has had no accidents in the past three years and had just one traffic ticket -- a stop-sign violation in San Rafael on Feb. 19, 1996, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles.