Mom left critically injured 9-year-old son behind after Dallas crash, report says
Monica Tutt
DALLAS - A Dallas woman and her relatives allegedly left her 9-year-old son behind when fleeing the scene of a drunken driving crash earlier this week.
The crash happened early Wednesday morning on Arden Road in Southeast Oak Cliff.
Dallas police believe 39-year-old Monica Tutt was intoxicated and speeding when she hit two cars that were parked on the side of the street in front of homes.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, multiple witnesses heard the crash and went outside to see what had happened.
They told police the driver tried to flee in her wrecked car, but it was too badly damaged.
"[The witness] yelled at the suspect to unlock the car while the suspect continued to yell and scream, attempting to start the car back up. She stated it was obvious that the suspect was drunk," the affidavit says.
Dallas driver flees crash, leaving 9-year-old boy injured in backseat
A 9-year-old boy was seriously injured early Wednesday after being left in the backseat of a car following a crash.
The witnesses said the driver’s sister arrived a few minutes later. The suspected drunken driver got into her sister’s driver’s seat, but her sister stopped her from leaving.
The two women then pulled an unresponsive boy out of the backseat of the wrecked car. They tried to load him into the sister’s car but couldn't, the witnesses said.
By that time, Dallas Fire-Rescue paramedics had arrived. But before they could speak to Tutt, the witnesses said her sister and another family member put her in their car and took off, leaving the little boy behind.
Tutt’s 9-year-old son was rushed to the hospital because of a gash on his head that was so deep his skull was visible. Doctors said he also had air in his brain, a brain bleed, and a fractured skull, according to the affidavit.
Police identified and then located Tutt using her license plate and photos the witnesses took of her sister’s license plate.
They found her at her sister’s house and took her back to the crash scene for questioning.
The officers observed "glassy/watery eyes and a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from her breath as she spoke," according to the police document.
"[Tutt] kept saying that her chance at a nursing career was over," the affidavit says. "[She] kept stating throughout the interview, ‘I did the same thing I always do,’ and ‘I want my son.’"
Police said Tutt admitted to drinking that night but said she only had a few drinks.
The affidavit says she failed both a field sobriety test and a preliminary breathalyzer test.
She was taken to the hospital to have blood drawn and then booked into the Dallas County jail on charges of intoxication assault and a collision involving serious bodily injury.
At last check, her son was listed in critical condition at the hospital.