Boy, 2, critically injured
Arlington police officers arrested a man who they say has a history of DWI arrests after his pickup slammed into a car and critically injured a 2-year-old boy late Friday, police said. Officers arrested Stewart Richardson, 44, of Davenport, Iowa, on a charge of intoxication assault with serious bodily injury. He was taken to Medical Center of Arlington, police said. Later Saturday, he was being held at the Arlington Jail, where his bail had not been set. The incident happened about 10:45 p.m. Friday when a Honda Accord carrying three people was stopped at a red light in the 4900 block of South Cooper Street at Oak Village Boulevard in south Arlington, spokesman Lt. Blake Miller said in a news release. While the car was stopped, a Ford pickup hit the back of the Honda. The force of impact pushed the car into the intersection, where it struck another car, Miller said. Paramedics took 2-year-old Abdallah Khader of Arlington, who was sitting in the Honda’s back seat, to Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth in critical condition, police said. Paramedics also took the driver of the Honda, 43-year-old Fahad Khader of Arlington, to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth in an unknown condition, police said. The Honda’s other passenger and the driver of the other car weren’t taken to the hospital, police said. “We need to continue to get the message out about the dangers of drinking and driving,” Miller wrote in an e-mail. “We have a 2-year-old fighting for his life.” Last month, the Arlington Police Department announced that it would start a 60-day plan to try to reduce the city’s increase in major traffic accidents and traffic fatalities. Under the two-month plan, police are targeting aggressive and speeding drivers or drivers who appear to be under the influence, police said. Officers are also joining Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission officials in checking bars.10:31 PM CST on Saturday, February 21, 2009
