Pregnant mom recovers after being injured in suspected DUI crash
Maria Hernandez’s eyes shot open and she began blinking rapidly to adjust to the unfamiliar surroundings. Every bone in her body felt like it was on fire.
“Am I in an ambulance?” she thought, unable to move. “Is my baby OK?”
The 37-year-old expectant mother found out she was in an ambulance, being transported to the hospital after being involved in a serious car crash.
The crash occurred just after 1:20 p.m. on May 1, as Hernandez was waiting to enter the roundabout at North Hualapai Way and North Town Center Drive, police said.
“That’s the last thing I remember honestly,” Hernandez recalled, some two weeks after the crash that fractured her spine in three places and a broke a rib.
Police have had to fill in the gaps for her: A driver named Michael Patrick Louchney allegedly plowed his box truck into the back of her Jeep, sending the SUV into southbound traffic before leaving the roadway.
Metropolitan Police Department traffic officers found Louchney at the scene asleep at the wheel. Inside the truck were four cans of beer, two of which had been “partially consumed,” according to a police report.
Louchney faces a felony count of driving under the influence resulting in substantial bodily harm among other traffic-related charges in connection with the crash.
At the scene, Louchney told police that he thought he had hit a deer somewhere on a journey from Las Vegas to Summerville, South Carolina. He was taken into custody after failing a field sobriety test, the report shows.
In the hours after the crash, Hernandez’s doctors at University Medical Center closely monitored her baby. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the impact of the crash would cause a miscarriage.
“The doctors say he’s fine, but you never know,” Hernandez said recently.
Every time the baby kicks, she said, she winces in pain.
“But at least I know he’s alive,” said Hernandez, who already has two other young daughters.
She is due to give birth the first week of August. A GoFundMe has been created to assist with her medical costs.
Louchney’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 11, court records show.
“I hope he learned his lesson,” Hernandez said.
Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.
