Endymion crash driver had .232 BAC, nearly 3 times legal limit, NOPD says

Neilson Rizzuto's blood-alcohol content was measured at .232 after he plowed into 32 spectators at Saturday night's Krewe of Endymion parade, according to a New Orleans police arrest report obtained Sunday (Feb. 26) by The Times-Picayune.

The report said Rizzuto's breathalyzer results -- showing impairment nearly three times the state's legal limit of .08 to operate a motor vehicle -- were obtained Saturday at 8:36 p.m., one hour and 54 minutes after the crash that sent 23 injured people to local hospitals after they were strewn about the intersection of Orleans and North Carrollton avenues.

Rizzuto, a 25-year-old from Paradis, initially was booked Sunday with two counts of first-degree negligent vehicular injuring, hit-and-run driving causing serious injury and reckless operation of a motor vehicle. Additional or alternate charges are possible after case evidence is screened by District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office in the coming weeks.

The two felony counts of first-degree negligent vehicular injuring -- punishable by up to five years in state prison -- are attributed to two seriously injured victims cited in the report.

Read more: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2017/02/endymion_crash_driver_had_232.html