MANCHESTER, NH – A man and his five children were crossing Belmont Street Thursday afternoon when, he told police, “something came flying out of the sky,” striking his 11-year-old daughter, and his younger daughter, who turns 1 on Saturday, seriously injuring them.
The impact of the collision sent both the toddler, who was in a stroller, airborne before landing in bushes at the northwest corner of Lake Avenue and Belmont Street. Her 11-year-old sister suffered broken bones as well, including a fractured femur.
The father, understandably upset when talking with officers at the scene, said he managed to pull three of his children to safety.
The driver, 23-year-old Justin Laclair, was arraigned Friday in 9th Circuit – District Division – Manchester on two counts of reckless conduct, deadly weapon; two counts of DUI aggravate address in criminal complaints is listed as 464 Chestnut St., two counts of collision with serious injury; two counts of conduct after accident/death or injury resulting. He was ordered held without bail.
On arrival at the hospital, the toddler was unresponsive and in cardiac arrest, according to court documents. She was revived and then underwent surgery. Over the next 30 minutes, she went into cardiac arrest five times. She was later taken by DART (Dartmouth Hitchcock Advanced Response Team) helicopter to the Lebanon hospital for further treatment.
At the scene, it was an off-duty firefighter, who is not identified by name in court documents, who initially aided the toddler. He was holding the child, who was limp with labored breathing and her head slumped back, when police arrived. The firefighter suspected the child had sustained a fractured neck. The toddler had shallow breathing and was bleeding from her left ear, and had numerous abrasions and blood on the right side ofher face and skull.
Her older sister was treated for a fractured left humorous; fracture right femur; fractured clavicle and a punctured lung. At the scene, an officer applied a touniquet to her upper right arm because of a severe laceration.
The collision was witnessed by many residents, some who took photographs, and others who had video recordings of the collision. All provided the footage and photos to police.
Police said after Laclair struck the children, he continued driving north on Belmont Street at a high rate of speed, sending the vehicle airborne across the intersection of Belmont and Spruce streets. The car continued on through the intersection of Belmont and Hanover streets where it collided with a car before slamming into a utility pole.
The collision happened at 3:56 p.m. According to court documents, Laclair was driving the wrong way, on a one-way section of Belmont Street, when he struck the children, didn’t stop and sped on hitting a car and then a utility pole.
According to Officer Christopher Neumann’s affidavit in support of Laclair’s arrest, he reviewed video of the accident. It recorded a silver sedan travelling north on Belmont Street, proceeding through the intersection at Massabesic and Spruce streets, a one-way street with signs posted “Do Not Enter.” The vehicle, being driven by Laclair according to police, disregarded the signs, continued north where a group of people were crossing Belmont Street, near the Spruce Street intersection.
The car struck the two children, with the toddler thrown up into the air. The car didn’t stop, but continued north on Belmont Street. The car traveled at a high rate of speed with the vehicle “visible lifting into the air with all tires off the ground and the suspension appearing unloaded immediately after it went over a rise in the roadway,” at the intersection of Blemont and Spruce streets, Neumann wrote.
One witness told police she was outside and heard a loud crash and saw the car speeding north of Belmont Street. She screamed because she feared the car was going to hit her. Soon after, she said, she heard another crash.
The father of the children told police he and his five children were attempting to cross Belmont Street from their residence when “Something came flying out of the sky.” Two of his children were struck by the car, but he managed to pull his other three children out of harm’s way.
A teen told police he saw the car blow through multiple stop signs and continued driving north after hitting the two pedestrians.
Originally, Neumann went to the area of Lake Avenue and Belmont Street to investigate a report of a gunshot. Enroute to the scene, dispatch advised the incident was being report as a child struck by a vehicle which had sped off on Belmont Street, towards Hanover Street.
When Newmann arrived at the intersection of Hall and Hanover streets, he saw Sgt. Rob McGoen speaking to Laclair, who was handcuffed and sitting on a small wall.
About a block east was a silver 2008 Volvo 60 sedan parked in the middle of the street, with front end damage, including a buckled hood and the front bumper pushed in toward the engine. (The license plate on the vehicle was for a 2013 black Nissan Altima, which was registered to Laclair, according to police.)
A second vehicle, a 2024 Ford Edge operated by a 57-year-old man from Massachusetts, was further up the street. That driver told police he was driving west on Hanover Street when Laclair drove through the intersection, causing a collision. He told the police when he got out of his car, he only saw a man with no T-shirt walking away from the scene.
A witness told police she heard the crash, came out of her house and saw a shirtless man with blood dripping down his face from his forehead. Neumann said Laclair also had abrasions on his right shoulder, which appeared to have sand and/or glass fragments embedded in the skin.
Neumann spoke to Laclair who said he hadn’t been driving and that his injuries were from a fall. Laclair, Neumann wrote, had slurred speech, glassy eyes and the officer could smell the odor of alcohol as he spoke.
Laclair said he had been walking to the store, not driving and denied using any drugs or alcohol. He was then taken by ambulance to Catholic Medical Center. Neumann rode along, continuing to talk with Laclair.
Laclair then told him he was driving to get his vehicle fixed, that he had been hanging out and he was drunk.
At the hospital, Laclair was assessed with a head injury but he was not believed to be suffering from life-threatening injuries. He also told the nursing staff he was intoxicated, Neumann said.
Neumann said he then learned two children had been injured and asked Laclair to consent to a blood test. He did, saying he wasn’t going to find any alcohol, just marijuana.
At the hospital, Laclair was placed under arrest and he was handcuffed to the railing of the hospital bed. He told police he and his girlfriend had an argument that day and he decided leave to get some beer and to “just get out of the house.” He admitted to “drinking a little bit before that so I was a little bit tipsy. I don’t really remember what happened, but I remember getting to a corner. Then I went to go across the street and after that everything went black.”
He said after he bought the beer he went back to the house and drank it by himself. He said he had three drinks but then told investigators he was drinking “Smirnoff tall boys 8%…they’re a lot…8%..they’re a lot. After tonight, I’m not drinking again.” He told police he was drinking around 2 to 3 p.m. and that he drank all three in three hours to four hours. “I was definitely tipsy,” he told investigators.
Police asked Laclair on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being completely sober and 10 being hammered drunk, how drunk he was and Laclair replied, “Probably a three.”
He said he only remembers post-crash waking up in the hospital. Asked if prior to the crash he was comfortable driving, Laclair said, “I was drunk. I was not thinking about getting into an accident. It was not a smart idea. It was not what I should have been doing.”