A man who was allegedly drunk behind the wheel was taken into custody following a wrong-way crash that left a 20-year-old seriously injured in Swansea, Massachusetts, on Thursday night.
Police tell NBC10 Boston affiliate WJAR that Timothy Couturier, 53, was charged with operating under the influence of liquor, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, marked lanes violation, and state highway wrong way following the crash on Swansea Mall Drive just before 8 p.m.
An investigation shows Couturier was driving northbound in the southbound lanes before he struck another vehicle head-on. Police say they believe he was drunk at the time.
Firefighters had to use hydraulic tools to free Couturier from his car, and he was taken to a local hospital, where he was arraigned from his hospital bed on Friday, WJAR reports.
The other driver -- identified as Tristan Tucker, of Swansea -- was pulled from his burning car and rushed to Rhode Island Hospital, where he remains, according to WJAR.
According to an online fundraiser for Tucker, the MTTI student is in an induced coma. He suffered a brain bleed and has multiple broken bones, his family says on the page.
Friends tell WJAR that Tucker was on his work break last Thursday night when he was hit by the wrong-way driver. He's been an employee at Five Guys for about six months, they say.
Local
On Sunday, there was a tip jar on the fast food restaurant's counter that read "For Tristan."
"He is such a treasure at Five Guys and it's such a terrible thing to see happen to someone so full of joy in this world," Tucker's co-worker Austin Kehoe told WJAR. "I don't really know how to put into words how much this affected us."
Tucker's co-workers wanted to help him on his road to recovery so they decided to donate all their tips from the last few days to Tucker and his family.
"We're a family here, when something bad happens to one of us, we will help each other out."
The staff tells WJAR they've been overwhelmed by the response from customers, noting they raised around $4,000 by Sunday, the last day of the fundraiser.
"It's nice to see when tragedy is happening, that you have such an amazing community like Swansea, rallying around and helping its young people," Kehoe said.
