Man Who Hit Woman Crossing Street In Wheelchair Charged With DUI
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The man charged with a hit and run involving a woman in a wheelchair in East Liberty made bail Friday afternoon but faces numerous traffic violations and a DUI.
The victim, identified as Melissa Brown, lay in the middle of the street after the accident, in a pool of blood with her mangled motorized wheelchair beside her.
It happened at the intersection of South Beatty Street and Baum Boulevard. Surveillance video captured the accident.
There was a stop sign and a pedestrian crosswalk, but the driver of the white Pontiac never slowed down, hitting Brown.
Police say the driver was 34-year-old Clint Edelman of Pittsburgh's Swisshelm Park neighborhood.
Police say, initially, Edelman left the scene but returned and was watching the commotion from the parking lot across the street. Then, witnesses yelled to police he was the man involved.
An 8-year-old boy was walking with Brown at the time of the accident but was not hurt.
Brown was taken to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in critical condition.
Edelman was given a field sobriety test at the scene. Officers say his speech was slurred, his eyes were glassy and he had an overwhelming odor of alcohol.
According to the criminal complaint, he told police he consumed five beers in less than three and a half hours.
When asked how he was involved in the accident, Edelman told investigators, "The light was green and I tried my best to swerve out of the way of the lady."
However, there are no traffic lights at the intersection, only stop signs.
Edelman was able to pay 10 percent of his $3,000 bail and was released from the Allegheny County Jail.
Brown remains in the hospital with multiple broken bones and head injuries.
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