A Weston teenager was ordered held on $50,000 cash bail yesterday on charges of drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident in allegedly striking a Boston College senior with his parents’ sport utility vehicle as she crossed a street on the Chestnut Hill campus early Sunday.
The victim, Bethany Pfalzgraf, 21, of Londonderry, N.H., was upgraded from serious to good condition yesterday at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, where she is being treated for serious injuries, prosecutors said.
Benjamin Knott, 18, is accused of hitting Pfalzgraf shortly after 12:30 a.m. on Thomas More Road in Brighton, then fleeing to a parking lot on campus, where BC police spotted him examining the front-end damage to the Toyota and alerted State Police, authorities said.
Knott told State Police he had been visiting a friend on campus and had “a few drinks’’ and then blew 0.18 and 0.20 on Breathalyzer tests, Assistant District Attorney Michael Callahan said in court. In Massachusetts, where the drinking age is 21, the legal limit is 0.08 for adults, and an even more stringent 0.02 for drivers under 21.
Witnesses heard the crash, saw a vehicle leave, and observed Pfalzgraf unconscious on the street. They later identified the Toyota Land Cruiser driven by Knott as the one that had struck the young woman, police said.
Knott pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Brighton District Court to operating under the influence of alcohol, causing serious bodily injury, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, and leaving the scene of an accident causing personal injury.
He was ordered held on $50,000 cash bail by District Judge Eleanor C. Sinnott.
“He and his family wish the best for the person who was struck,’’ said Boston attorney Thomas Drechsler, who represents Knott. “The allegation here is it was a very bad, slippery, icy evening.’’ He described Knott as “a fine young man who’s had a good educational track record.’’
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