Crash suspect’s alcohol level 3 times legal limit
NEW ORLEANS — Police on Sunday identified the man who allegedly plowed into a crowd enjoying a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans wahile intoxicated.
The New Orleans Police Department issued a statement identifying the man as 25-year-old Neilson Rizzuto. He’s being held at the city’s jail and being charged with first-degree negligent vehicular injuring, hit-and-run driving causing serious injury and reckless operation of a vehicle.
The accident happened Saturday during one of the busiest nights of Mardi Gras when thousands of people throng the streets of Mid City to watch the elaborate floats and clamour to catch beads and trinkets tossed from riders.
Police say 28 people were hurt in the accident that sent three people to the hospital with moderate to serious injuries. There were no fatalities.
Police say a breath alcohol test determined that Rizzuto’s alcohol level was three times the legal limit after the he was arrested.
“We suspect that that subject was highly intoxicated,” Police Chief Michael Harrison had said on Saturday evening.
Harrison was asked by the media if terrorism was suspected. While he didn’t say “No,” he did say it looks like a case of DWI.
Twenty-one people were hospitalized after the crash with five victims taken to the trauma centre in guarded condition. However, their conditions did not seem to be lifethreatening, said Dr. Jeff Elder, city emergency services director.
Seven others declined to be hospitalized, he said.
The victims range in age from as young as 3 or 4 to adults in their 30s and 40s, Elder said.
As police and city officials assessed the accident scene, people streamed home as plastic bags that used to hold trinkets and discarded beads littered the ground.
Saturday night’s parade was put on by the Krewe of Endymion, which is known for its long, elaborate floats and the big party it hosts at the Superdome after the parade.
One woman at the scene said a silver truck whisked closely by her as she was walking through the intersection.
Carrie Kinsella said, “I felt a rush it was so fast.”
Kourtney McKinnis, 20, said the driver of the truck seemed almost unaware of what he had just done.
“He was just kind of out of it,” she said.