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A 36-year-old Hayward man is in critical but stable condition at San Francisco General Hospital this morning after surviving a 100-foot fall off the Bay Bridge that was caused by an alleged drunken driver. 

Authorities say Joel Sesaldo was standing with an Albany woman and her boyfriend near a call box on the upper deck of the bridge near Treasure Island at about 11:25 p.m. Wednesday when two of them were hit by a passing car. The 2001 Ford Taurus was driven by a 40-year-old San Francisco woman who has since been arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, according to police. 

The impact launched Sesaldo off the bridge, causing him to plunge some 100 feet into the chilly San Francisco Bay. Authorities say the man survived and, although injured, managed to stay afloat by grabbing onto a wooden structure beneath the bridge. 

Coast Guard rescuers "found him clinging on some pylons under the bridge and used a small boat to reach him and pull him out of the water,'' a Coast Guard spokesman said. "He was definitely conscious and ambulatory.'' 

Albany resident Nicole Liao, 22, was struck and thrown onto the bridge guardrail. Police say she was pulled to safety by her boyfriend, 35-year-old Ahmet Tekin of Walnut Creek, who was not injured. Liao suffered only moderate wounds such as knee and head injuries and a heel laceration for which she was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland. 

The fall victim, however, suffered multiple traumas, including a pelvic fracture and abdominal injuries. A nursing supervisor said at 8 a.m. today that Sesaldo's condition was still critical, but stable. 

The California Highway Patrol says the incident began when the East Bay couple and Sesaldo got into a collision in the number one lane of the upper deck on eastbound Interstate Highway 80.