Police state that the alleged driver, 23, was going so fast his car went entirely airborne at one point after the devastating hit-and-run that destroyed a family on their way to the park to play.
A family is devastated and a man in jail after tragedy struck the town of Manchester, New Hampshire this past Thursday when a baby girl, 1, and her older sister, 11, were struck by an alleged drunk driver.
The younger victim succumbed to her injuries on Saturday, her first birthday, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader. Her sister is still being treated for her own serious injuries at the hospital.
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Police were able to track the alleged motorist, after hitting the two young children, as the same vehicle was involved in a second accident just a few blocks away, as detailed by the Manchester Police Department in a press release.
Justin LaClair was “observed walking away from the second scene,” per police, and ultimately arrested. Now, the 23-year-old is facing six total charges, including aggravated driving while intoxicated, reckless conduct with a deadly weapon, and conduct after an accident, which is how New Hampshire describes a hit-and-run.
The father of the victims told police he was walking with his five children to a nearby park, per Manchester’s Ink Link. They were crossing a one-way street when he said “something came flying out of the sky.”
That “something” proved to be a vehicle allegedly going the wrong way on the street, striking two of his children. The father was able to get three of his children out of the way, but could not save all of his children.
According to witnesses, the impact was so strong that the one-year-old, and her stroller were both sent airborne to land in some bushes at the intersection. The baby likely suffered a broken neck and went into cardiac arrest six times, according to police records seen by the Union Leader. Her sister also suffered broken bones, including a fractured femur, clavicle, humerus, and punctured lung.
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Court documents detail the accident and its aftermath, stating that LaClair was allegedly driving the wrong way on a one-way section of the road, struck the children, and continued driving another five blocks until he hit a car and a utility pole, wrecking his vehicle.
LaClair initially told police that he hadn’t been driving, according to prosecutor Carl Olson during a bail hearing on Friday. He instead said his own head injury and abrasions were from a fall. Police reported the smell of alcohol, glassy eyes, and slurred speech as he told them this.
But harrowing video footage of the crash taken by witnesses and detailed in the arrest affidavit revealed the apparent truth. They showed LaClair’s vehicle entering the one-way street the wrong way, flying past “Do Not Enter” signs, per the report, before striking the children, with the younger girl visibly flying into the air as the vehicle kept going.
“He is then seen on video going another five more blocks,” Olson said in court on Friday. “He is going at such a speed that when he crosses over one of the streets, the car actually goes airborne. That is the kind of speed he is going.” And that purported airborne moment came after the impact with the girls.
At the hospital for his own head injuries, though, LaClair reportedly finally admitted he had been drinking and was driving to get his car fixed, but said he had no memory of striking the children, per Ink Link.
LaClair’s next court date is a probable cause hearing slated for June 23. He was ordered held without bail.
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