Police: Driver in drunk wrong-way Mount Pleasant crash had .27 BAC

MOUNT PLEASANT, New York (WABC) -- A 22-year-old man arrested after a wrong-way crash on the Taconic Parkway in Mount Pleasant was found to a blood alcohol content more than three times the legal limit, according to police.

The crash happened at 8:40 p.m. Wednesday in the area of mile marker 7.1 in the northbound lanes.

The investigation indicated that 22-year-old Sawyer White, of White Plains, was traveling southbound in the northbound lanes and struck 62-year-old Michael Ioannidis head on.

"It takes a minute to register, that's not where it's supposed to be," witness Ilene Pascale said. "And all of a sudden, the car flew past us in the left lane. We were in the right lane."

A few moments before the crash, Pascale and her daughter Rebecca had gotten onto the parkway at the Millwood entrance heading north when they suddenly saw the danger heading toward them.

"I told her, 'pull over, pull over, I'll call the police,'" Rebecca Pascale said. "It did not process until I literally got home, and I was like, oh God, somebody could have just died."

Averting a head-on crash, they called 911 and realized no one was heading north behind them.

"You just have that horrible feeling that something bad just happened," Ilene Pascale said. "If you are that intoxicated, you don't recognize what is going on. But it's hard to think about how how could you possibly not."

Ioannidis was transported to Westchester Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries. White was transported to Westchester Medical Center for an evaluation and released.

White reportedly supplied a breath sample that yielded a BAC of .27.

"When you're drinking, panic and stop or swerve off or something like that, but to keep going? I just don't understand that," Rebecca Pascale said.

White is charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, speeding and several other vehicle and traffic offenses.