A five-year-old girl and her mother have died after a motorist who had allegedly been drinking straight vodka ploughed into their vehicle in Massachusetts.
Minaben Patel, 38, and her daughter, Krisha, succumbed to their injuries after police say drunk driver James Blanchard, 21, struck their Honda Accord with his pickup truck on Memorial Day weekend.
They were flung from their car due to the impact, prosecutors said. Patel’s son, Kunj, and her husband, Atulkumar, were also in the vehicle but survived.
The horror unfolded just after 6.20pm on May 24, which was part of the federal holiday weekend, and Kunj’s fourteenth birthday.
Prosecutors said Blanchard opened a 1.75 liter bottle of Tito’s vodka and began drinking straight out of the bottle shortly before the crash.
Investigators also found a second 1.75 liter bottle of Tito’s vodka in his vehicle.
Blanchard, a landscaper and mechanic, told police he had two beers while at a job in Plainville that morning, and said the vodka bottles were ‘from the night before’.
He appeared in court on May 27 handcuffed while sporting long hair and a beard. Blanchard watched intently from the defendant’s box as lawyers outlined the case.
Prosecutor Christopher Meade described the scene of the crash, which unfolded on Grove Street in Franklin, around 30 miles south-west of Boston.
He said police officers who were called to the street saw a pickup truck in the middle of the road, and the Patel family’s Honda ‘off to the side of the road’.
Meade said Minaben and Krisha were on the ground suffering horrific injuries after appearing to have been flung from their vehicle. Officers performed CPR.
Atulkumar, who had been driving, was trapped inside the car with his son Kung.
The Patel family were rushed to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester for treatment. Krisha died that night.
Blanchard was found ‘with a small amount of blood on his nose’, Meade said. ‘His eyes were bloodshot and glassy,’ he added.
Officers noted that he ‘didn’t remember much’ and ‘had slurred speech’, while attempting to direct his face away from officers so they could not smell the alcohol.
His blood alcohol level came back .19, Meade said, more than twice the legal limit for driving in Massachusetts.
Blanchard said he tried to swerve to avoid the Honda during interviews with police the day after the collision.
Horrific images from the scene show the front of his pickup truck was crumpled by the impact, while the Patel family’s car was smashed in on one side.
Blanchard has been charged with motor vehicle homicide while driving negligently and under the influence of alcohol, three counts of operating under the influence of alcohol and causing serious bodily injury.
He is also accused of negligent operation of a motor vehicle, operating a motor vehicle with an open container of alcohol, and a marked lanes violation.
‘Krishna’s kind spirit, big smile and loving heart will be deeply missed,’ a flyer for her memorial service reads.