Hummer driver drags girl, tears off leg, has 0.34 per mille: Police
Main image: Sparks fly as the driver of a Hummer drags a 9-year-old girl down the road in front of her family (WHIO). Left image: Jeffrey Atkinson in bodycam footage (Law&Crime). Right image: Ashley Escalante in a family photo shown on the news (WHIO).
The owner of an Ohio bar has been charged because the driver of his Hummer, which struck a 9-year-old girl in front of her family a month ago as she rode her bike across a crosswalk with a friend, dragging her down the street and breaking her left leg “below the knee,” had a blood-alcohol content of more than four times the legal limit that night, authorities reportedly said.
A friend and Ashley Escalante were riding their bikes while their mother, father and twins went to the Family Dollar to get milk, WHIO reported, when 55-year-old Jeffrey Atkinson allegedly hit the girl with his Hummer at the corner of Wayne Avenue and Clover Street in Dayton and drove away.
A July 22 body camera footage showed Dayton police encountering Atkinson, owner of the Cowboys Lodi Bike Stop Bar, at his business after Escalante was dragged several blocks and a half-mile, leaving the child with “severe trauma” that reportedly has left him hospitalized to this day.
When police attempted to administer a breathalyzer test, Atkinson admitted he was “too drunk to pass,” authorities said. Now cops say he had a blood alcohol level of 0.34, well over the legal limit of 0.08, according to the local news agency.
According to police, the girl’s mother was one of those who called 911 to say Ashley was “stuck in the wheels” and she didn’t know where she was. A video showed Ashley’s father, Carlos Escalante, running behind the Hummer on a sidewalk with a baby in his arms.
Carlos Escalante runs after his daughter with a baby in his arms (WHIO).
When authorities arrived at Ashley’s home, they found that “the lower portion of her left leg, including her foot, was missing below the knee and her right leg also had significant injuries.”
Atkinson was miles away, in his bar, police said.
Atkinson leaves a bar after the suspected hit-and-run accident (Dayton Police).
He was seen on bodycam walking out of the bar with his hands raised as police asked him if he was the owner of the Hummer parked in the parking lot. He was wearing a black T-shirt with a skeleton pointing a gun at him and a slogan that read “Support your local outlaws.”
Atkinson is arrested (Dayton Police).
“Yes,” he said.
When one passerby was heard saying, “I hope you stay in jail for a long time, mate,” and another said he was “coming to judgement day,” Atkinson appeared to reply, “I’m sorry.”
He then made incriminating statements about being “disabled” and “drunk.”
“Oh, damn it, I’m already impaired,” he once said. “I know that.”
“You know what? Fuck it, I’m drunk. I admit it,” Atkinson said on another occasion. “I own a bar.”
Given the comments on the video and the alleged blood alcohol content after the incident, Atkinson appears to have a steep mountain to climb when it comes to contesting the counts of aggravated assault with a vehicle, endangering a child and driving under the influence. As of Thursday, Montgomery County Jail records show Atkinson is still in custody after being arrested in the early morning hours of July 23.
Only four days ago, a post on the bar’s Facebook page alluded to the “regrettable events” and said that the defendant’s ex-wife would take over the bar and reopen it.
A GoFundMe campaign launched in early August for Ashley and her family provided an update on their “unexpected and difficult journey following the tragic accident,” including “numerous surgeries and a long road to recovery(.).”
In a message attributed to Carlos Escalante, everyone was thanked “infinitely” for their prayers and donations.
“As soon as Ashley has recovered, you can see her again. I am very grateful for your well wishes and sincere love,” the message said.
Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
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