Girl Seriously Injured When Car Crashes Into Salem NH Home; Police Believe 'Speed And Alcohol' Were Factors
SALEM, N.H. (CBS) -- A car crashed into a home in Salem, New Hampshire over the weekend, seriously injuring a girl inside. Police have now identified the driver as 37-year-old Scott Dowd, and say investigators have "determined that speed and alcohol were factors in the crash."
Police received multiple 911 calls about the crash on Saturday at about 2 p.m. The 2019 Acura RDX was heading south on Silver Brook Road when it went off the road and crashed into the home.
The driver was trapped inside the car when first responders arrived, and they also discovered five-year-old Giuliana Tutrone hurt inside the home.
"I was in complete panic," said Joseph Tutrone, the girl's father. "I didn't know what to do."
Tutrone was still a bit shaky on Monday as he described the events that critically injured his daughter. "At one point we weren't even sure if she was going to make it," he said.
It was Saturday afternoon when police say Dowd, who was drunk and speeding, veered off the road, snapped off a granite mailbox post and careened into the Tutrone's home.
"I don't understand how he could possibly have been going that fast," Tutrone said.
The other half of the granite post, which fell onto the Acura's hood, launched into the home when the SUV crashed.
"It went through my house, hit my daughter, went through the office door, went across our foyer, to the other side of the house," Tutrone said.
The impact rattled neighbors and many scrambled over to help.
"I picked her up and I brought her outside, and luckily there was other people there to help," Tutrone said.
It was a man who was fixing a neighbor's sprinkler who stopped the bleeding from an artery in Giuliana's neck, very likely saving her life.
Once she was medflighted Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Giuliana underwent emergency surgery to repair the artery, a broken jaw and several deep facial cuts.
"I hope for my daughter to fully recover and for the scars to not look bad on her face," Tutrone said.
The house is unlivable for the rest of the family and police are still pondering the exact charges against the suspect who was found passed out and trapped in his car.
"I just can't even believe what we're all going through right now," Tutrone said.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help pay for Giuliana's medical bills.
