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911 call documents anxious moments after Danvers crash

E-mail|Link|Comments () June 3, 2009 02:54 PM

By John R. Ellement and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

A dramatic 911 recording provides a glimpse into the frantic, anxious moments Tuesday morning at a Danvers Wal-Mart store after a car driven by a 93-year-old man crashed into the front entrance, injuring a woman and her one-year-old child.

"We're at Wal-Mart on 114. A car just drove through the front window. Can you please send help? A baby's hurt," says one caller on the recording released by Danvers Police.

In a second call, a frantic man tells the dispatcher, "The little girl is bleeding from the head. … You gotta hurry. You gotta hurry. … She's a little baby."

Then the man says, with obvious relief, "She is awake. She is awake. So she's OK, she's OK, she's OK all right," he said.

The mother was treated and released from Massachusetts General Hospital. But the one-year-old daughter remains hospitalized and in serious condition at the Boston hospital, a spokeswoman said today.

The mother was identified by police as 25-year-old Alaina Hayes. She was walking with her one-year-old daughter, Makayla, when the car driven by Louis Vesprini roared into the store's entryway.

Hayes lives in Gloucester and was not immediately available for comment.

Danvers Police Sergeant Robert Bettencourt said today that the crash remains under investigation and no charges have been filed against Vesprini. However, at the request of police, the Registry of Motor Vehicles on Tuesday revoked Vesprini's license, deeming him an immediate threat to public safety.

Police said Tuesday that Vesprini apparently stepped on the gas rather than the brake when he drove his Toyota Camry into the entrance of the store, scraping through concrete posts that were intended to stop cars, and then smashing into two cash register stations, the Globe reported today.