A drunk driver who allegedly barreled down the wrong side of a Louisiana highway, striking another vehicle head-on and killing three siblings inside, had a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit, police said.
The deadly crash unfolded on Interstate 49 near St. Landry Parish just a week before Christmas.
Louisiana State Police on Thursday confirmed John Lundy was intoxicated when his Chevrolet pickup truck slammed into an SUV, driven by Lindy Simmons the night of Dec. 17. She and her family were on their way home from a basketball game at Acadiana Christian School at the time.
Simmons, a 20-year-old from Jeanerette with a passion for photography, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.
Her two younger siblings, 17-year-old Christopher Simmons and 15-year-old Kamryn Simmons were rushed to separate hospitals for treatment, but neither survived their injuries. Their 57-year-old mother, Dawn Simmons, and Christopher’s girlfriend, 16-year-old, Marissa, both inside the vehicle at the time, were hospitalized.
Dawn suffered from a bleeding spleen, a punctured lung and two broken ankles, according to a GoFundMe set up by the victims’ sister and daughter, Katie DeRouen. She also had a lacerated carotid artery.
“My mom proved that she is as resilient and beautiful as we all thought she was, and she will survive and one day live a mostly normal life,” the page reads.
Lundy, a Georgia native, also died in the crash. A blood sample taken at the scene and processed at the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab revealed Lundy’s blood-alcohol level at the time of the crash was .22.
The legal limit in Louisiana in .08.
“I was so angry with the driver that killed my family after the accident,” DeRouen wrote in an update to the GoFundMe page.
“I even stated publicly that I was happy he died. Please understand that this statement was made during the most painful and emotional time of my entire life. I’m a Christian, and that expression doesn’t represent God or what we stand for. I know God forgives me and knows how I was feeling in that moment.”
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