Attleboro Drunk Driver Who Struck Pedestrian in Seekonk Sentenced to Jail Time
Bristol County District Attorney’s Office
Thomas M. Quinn III
District Attorney
Press Release
September 28, 2017
A 34-year-old Attleboro woman, who while intoxicated struck a pedestrian with her vehicle in Seekonk and then drove off, was sentenced to jail time last week in Taunton District Court, District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.
Mary Elliott pleaded guilty in Taunton District Court to charges of Operating motor vehicle while under the influence-causing serious injury and leaving the scene of personal injury.
On the OUI count, she was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in the House of Corrections, with 15 months to serve. The balance of the jail term was suspended for four years.
On the leaving the scene count, she was sentenced to two years in the House of Corrections, suspended for four years. She was also ordered to undergo a substance abuse evaluation and complete all recommended treatments, and write a letter of apology within 3 months. The defendant is also not to drive a vehicle during the probationary period of her suspended sentence.
On September 4, 2016, at around 5 a.m., the defendant was seen driving erratically on Route 44 in Raynham near the Seekonk town line. Her vehicle veered across the center line and began traveling in the wrong lane of travel for a time before then jumping the curb into a parking lot. The defendant was then seen to reach down for something before backing out of the parking lot and continuing on into Seekonk. The defendant was then seen abruptly speeding up and slowing down as she approached a red light. She eventually did stop at the red light, but her vehicle was straddling both lanes of travel.
A bit further up the road on Taunton Avenue in Seekonk the defendant struck the adult male victim with her vehicle. The victim had been jogging along the shoulder of the road. The defendant struck the victim from behind, causing him to leave his feet and strike the windshield of the vehicle. The victim rotated through the air multiple times, striking the vehicle and eventually striking a telephone pole. Video surveillance from across the street captured the defendant hitting the victim.
Several witnesses observed the incident and immediately called 911. Some of the witnesses stopped to help the victim, while two others followed the defendant into East Providence. The two witnesses honked their horns several times to try to get the defendant to stop. The witnesses eventually boxed her vehicle in, forcing her to stop. One o the witnesses exited his vehicle, approached the defendant’s vehicle, removed the keys from the ignition and placed her vehicle in park.
When police arrived, they found the defendant’s vehicle had heavy damage to the windshield on the passenger’s side, and hair and blood were trapped in shattered glass. Police observed the defendant inside her vehicle staring straight ahead and appeared confused. There was a strong odor of alcohol coming from her breath, her speech was slow, deliberate and slurred, and when she exited her vehicle she was unsteady on her feet. She failed all sobriety tests and was placed under arrest.
The victim, meanwhile, was transported to Rhode Island Hospital for life threatening injuries, where he remained in the intensive care unit for about a month. He suffered a cervical spine fracture, subarachnoid hemorrhage, rib fracture, nasal bone fractures, maxillary sinus facture, orbital wall fracture, fracture of frontal bone, temporal bone fracture, subdural hematoma, epidural hemorrhage, bilateral pulmonary contusion, lumbar transverse process fracture, fracture of spinous process of cervical vertebra and a femur fracture. The victim was eventually transferred to a nursing home for physical therapy. It took him until January of 2017 to regain his strength through physical therapy, but still suffers the after-effects of the incident to this day in many ways.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Keith Paquette and the sentence was handed down by District Court Judge Robert Ziemian. The defendant had no prior history of convictions.
“But for the grace of God the victim could easily have died because the defendant was behind the wheel of the car in a drunken state. I would like to commend the witnesses for their actions in identifying the defendant,” District Attorney Quinn said. “This is an extreme example of someone who had way too much to drink and caused traumatic and life changing injuries to the victim. My thoughts and prayers are with the victim for a complete recovery.”
Contact:
Gregg Miliote
Director of Communications
508-997-0711
774-292-9576–cell