[StBernard] Chalmette driver cited in multi-vehicle West Bank wreck that left 8-year-old boy critically injured

[Westley Annis]

Chalmette driver cited in multi-vehicle West Bank wreck that left 8-year-old
boy critically injured

Print Michelle Hunter, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune By Michelle Hunter,
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune 
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on September 11, 2013 at 5:30 PM, updated September 11, 2013 at 6:04 PM

State Police cited a Chalmette man with careless operation of a vehicle in
connection with a six-vehicle wreck in Marrero Tuesday morning that sent
five people to the hospital, including an 8-year-old boy. Investigators are
still trying to determine the cause of the wreck.

There was no new information about the condition of the boy, who was
transported to LSU Interim Public Hospital's trauma center in New Orleans,
said Trooper Melissa Matey, spokeswoman for the State Police.

Matey said the boy was in critical condition when he went into surgery after
the wreck. State Police cited James Hyde Jr., 44, for crashing his truck
into four vehicles and clipping a pole that toppled onto a fifth car on the
West Bank Expressway at the Barataria Boulevard exit.

The accidents occurred just before 9 a.m. Authorities said Hyde's pick-up
truck smashed into two vehicles on the elevated westbound expressway,
traveled down the exit ramp and hit a third vehicle waiting at a traffic
light at the bottom of the ramp before crashing into a the boy's car at the
intersection of the lower West Bank Expressway and Avenue D.

Paramedics transported Hyde, the female driver of the boy's vehicle, the
driver of the car at the bottom of the ramp and the driver of one of the
cars hit on the elevated expressway to nearby West Jefferson Medical Center
in Marrero with minor injuries.

Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the accident.
Impairment wasn't suspected, Matey said. But Hyde can't remember anything
about it.

"He said he blacked out," said Matey, who noted that Hyde does have multiple
medical conditions that could have led to the crash.

In reviewing the accident for safety measures, Matey said it's safer for
children 12 and under to ride on the backseat of vehicles. The injured boy
was belted into the front passenger seat.

The statement in no way indicates that the boy in Tuesday's wreck was
injured by an air bag. But State Police recommends that younger children
take the backseat because the safety device, which deploys at 200 miles per
hour, can seriously injure them. "They can do a lot of damage," Matey said.