Driver Allegedly Admitted To Having '4 Vodka Drinks' Before Crashing Into Salem, NH Home, Hurting Little Girl
SALEM, N.H. (CBS) -- The driver who is accused of crashing into a home in Salem, New Hampshire, seriously hurting a five-year-old girl, allegedly admitted to police that he was drinking before getting in his car, according to new court documents.
Police say 37-year-old Scott Dowd told them he had "four vodka drinks" before leaving his house on July 10.
Prior to the crash, one witness said Dowd almost hit her and her two children while walking on Silver Brook Road. Then, another said he was going an estimated 75 miles per hour before turning and hitting a mailbox post of a residence on the street, catapulting a part of it through a house on Silver Brook Road where it hit five-year-old Guiliana Tutrone.
The person whose mailbox was destroyed also saw the crash.
According to police, Dowd crashed into the home at around 2 p.m., and was unconscious afterwards.
A Salem fire paramedic who later attended to Dowd said he admitted he was drinking beforehand. The paramedic also stated that he could "smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from Dowd's breath as he spoke".
A neighbor, Scott Demers, saw Tutrone was injured and helped save her life. He took his shirt off and applied pressure to Guiliana's neck to stop the bleeding from an artery. Once she was medflighted to Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Giuliana underwent emergency surgery to repair the artery, a broken jaw, and several deep facial cuts.
She was released from the hospital the following Tuesday, but her family says she has a long road to recovery.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help pay for Giuliana's medical bills.
Dowd has been released from jail on person recognizance.
He is scheduled to be arraigned on August 19 in Rockingham Superior Court.
He faces charges of reckless conduct with a deadly weapon, aggravated DUI with serious bodily injury, and first-degree assault on a victim under 13 with serious bodily injury.