WESTFIELD — The blood alcohol level of the driver of the SUV that crashed into a tree and burst into flames with him and three friends inside on Southwick’s Mort Vining Road in July was twice the legal limit, according to court documents.
That information was included in documents used to charge Aiden P. Deroches, 18, of East Street South, Suffield, Connecticut, during his arraignment Monday in District Court on a single felony count of serious bodily injury by motor vehicle while under the influence of an intoxicating substance, in this case alcohol, according to court records.
Desroches was driving the Hyundai Tucson that at about 1:45 a.m., Tuesday, July 29, veered right off near 81 Mort Vining Road while approaching Nicholson Hill Road, struck several trees, rolled over, landing on its roof and resting against several trees, according to witnesses interviewed by State Police and the Southwick Police Department.
Once the SUV stopped, it caught fire, trapping Desroches and three of his friends, including two under 18, according to court records.
Within moments, Erika Emmelman, who heard the crash, looked outside her home at 81 Mort Vining Road, and saw the SUV overturned and on fire.
As she ran up the scene, she could see what she thought were children inside the burning SUV and two individuals screaming and yelling, she told investigators.
The two individuals were in a vehicle that was behind the SUV when it crashed.
Emmelman ran back to her home to retrieve a fire extinguisher and had her daughter call 911.
When she returned, one of the SUV’s passengers had already been pulled clear of the burning vehicle but was seriously injured.
She said that moments later, Southwick Police Department officers arrived and pulled the three other teenagers to safety but said it was the most “chaotic thing I have seen in my entire life.”
“The kids were on fire when they came out of the car, no clothes, just skin,” Emmelmann told investigators.
Minutes later, EMTs with the Southwick Fire Department arrived and took each victim, in separate ambulances, to Springfield’s Baystate Medical Center.
Because of the severity of the burns, Desroches and another passenger were then taken to the Boston Medical Center’s Burn Trauma Center, according to court records.
Investigators, through witness interviews, pieced together what happened prior to the crash.
They learned Desroches and a group of his friends were at a party on Ridgeview Terrace in Southwick.
Those at the party described him as having too much to drink.
“He was black-out drunk. I guarantee he probably does not remember anything, simply because he was so drunk, not because he hit his head in the car crash, because he was so drunk he couldn’t remember. He was that [expletive] up,” said one of those at the party interviewed.
Another witness told investigators he tried to drink some of the cognac Desroches was drinking so Desroches wouldn’t get even more drunk.
There was also an attempt to keep Desroches from driving.
“Numerous people were trying to get him not to drive but explained that nobody stepped up and prevented him from getting behind the wheel,” the witness told investigators.
Desroches’ blood alcohol content was .016, according to the investigators’ report.
When arraigned on Monday, Desroches pleaded not guilty and was released on personal recognizance with the condition that he refrain from drinking alcohol.
The three officers who pulled the three teenagers out, Officers Matthew Olson and Nicholas Beauchemin, and Sgt. Brad Fisk, have been recognized by the town and the state for their brave actions that morning.
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