Oct 12, 2009 12:26 am US/Eastern
Police: 11-Year-Old Girl Dies In DWI Crash
Driver Faces Charges, 7 Treated For Minor Injuries
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Police say an out-of-control drunk driver packed her car full of kids and hit the road, embarking on a joy ride that ended in a horrific crash that killed an 11-year-old.
"My only daughter, my life and my joy, taken away," Lenny Rosado, the victim's father, said. "She used to like to be called Lilly."
Rosado is left only with photographs and memories of his beloved daughter Leandra – and one word for what happened.
"I call it murder. You're drunk! You're drunk!" Rosado said.
Police say 31-year-old Carmen Huertas was driving under the influence, with seven children in the car, when she flipped off of the West Side Highway.
"She was drunk, she crashed into a tree, the car rolled over," Rosado said.
Cops were left digging through a mess of twisted metal, toys, and even a baby carriage.
A 13-year-old broke both of her legs, five others were hurt, and Leandra died. Her father found her at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital.
"It was very hard, very hard seeing your daughter there – the only child laying down," Rosado said.
He says Huertas was driving the children from a party in Chelsea back to her Bronx home to spend the night. He believes someone should have stopped her from placing so many kids into her Mercury Sable, and from putting herself behind the wheel.
"I was like, you gotta be kidding me," Rosado said. "Nobody saw that this woman was intoxicated? Nobody saw that she was drinking?"
Huertas is now facing vehicular manslaughter and DWI charges – and, someday, may face Leandra's father as well.
"I would tell her, 'Listen, my daughter's gone because of you – you didn't use common sense,'" Rosado said.
The crash scene was so bad that, even hours after the accident happened, it was still littered with medical supplies late Sunday night.
And already, there's a growing memorial for little Leandra Rosado.
Rosado says he plans to do whatever he can to fight for stronger drunk driving laws.
CBS 2HD's Ross Palombo contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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