Nov. 22--A Riverside woman was charged with drunken driving after being accused of striking a 10-year-old girl with her car in a school zone Thursday afternoon in west suburban Riverside, authorities said.
The girl was crossing the street in a marked crosswalk at the intersection of Longcommon and Herrick roads around 3 p.m. when Julia Ann Rastelli, 50, allegedly struck her and continued to drive, according to a statement from the Riverside Police Department.
After the accident, Rastelli allegedly kept driving for about half a mile before she was stopped by an off-duty Lyons police officer, according to the statement. Her 14-year-old daughter, who Rastelli picked up from Riverside-Brookfield High School earlier, was a passenger in the car.
Rastelli denied she hit anyone but told police she drank a mimosa earlier in the morning before driving, the statement said. She refused a Breathalyzer test and failed a field sobriety test, the statement said.
The 10-year-old girl suffered minor injuries and was treated by a paramedic on the scene, said Riverside police Chief Thomas Weitzel. She was back in school Friday, Weitzel said.
"The drunk driver simply ignored both the pedestrian and the crossing guard and drove through the intersection," Weitzel said in the statement. "The child was struck with such force that she rolled over the front of the SUV and landed onto the concrete. I am very thankful that the child's injuries were minor in nature."
Rastelli, of the 100 block of Southcote Road in Riverside, was charged with a felony count of aggravated DUI, disobeying a crossing guard, hit-and-run personal injury and endangering the life of a child.
She was also cited for communicating on a telephone device while driving through a school zone, failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, disobeying a crossing guard while in a marked crosswalk and for having no vehicle insurance.
