Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

By AMANDA MILKOVITS
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A Scituate man had two-and-half times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood, and triple his prescribed dosage of Vicodin, when he collided head-on last month with a car driven by a mother of six, killing her,according to toxicology reports.

David Hazard, 38, also tested positive for illegal substances that night, said Scituate Deputy Police Chief Stephen Lang.

The results of the toxicology report were disclosed by Scituate police after a grand jury indicted Hazard on Thursday.

Hazard was indicted on charges of driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor and other controlled substances, with death resulting. He is also indicted for driving with death resulting, and refusal to submit to a chemical test, a second offense within five years.

Hazard will be arraigned on Monday morning in Providence County Superior Court.

Although Hazard had refused the chemical test, the Scituate police obtained a search warrant for his blood and urine samples taken at Kent Hospital, where Hazard was treated for a broken ankle after the crash.

Hazard's blood-alcohol content was 0.204 percent, Lang said. The legal limit in Rhode Island is .08 percent.

Hazard had a prescription for Vicodin, a pain reliever, which he had filled that day. Lang said three pills were missing from the bottle.

The deputy chief declined comment on the illegal substances that were listed in the toxicology report.

Hazard had allegedly been drinking and taking prescription medication on April 7 before he sped off from his house at 354 Burnt Hill Road and onto Route 12, a narrow road crossing the Scituate dam, shortly after 11 p.m.

His large pickup crossed the lanes and crashed into an oncoming small convertible driven by Katherine O'Toole, of Foster, who was headed home from her job as a certifed nursing assistant at a nursing home.

The impact killed O'Toole and sent Hazard's truck sliding on its roof about 400 feet down the road, where it was struck by another car, the police said.

The police allege that Hazard refused to submit to a chemical test for alcohol. It was the second time Hazard has faced this charge in a year.

Hazard has a history of driving violations, including several in a year. He surrendered his driver's license voluntarily last month after the fatal crash.

 Tags  Providence RI

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