Woman, unborn child die in crash
Man arrested on charges of drunken driving
Katelyn DiSessa, 21, eight months pregnant, was killed Saturday when she was hit head-on by an alleged drunk driver who crossed the center strip on Route 62 in Lancaster, police said.
The unborn baby, already named James Jr., also died, although paramedics and doctors tried to keep oxygen inside of DiSessa's body to buy time for doctors to perform an emergency Caesarian section at nearby Clinton Hospital.
By the time family arrived, around 2 a.m. yesterday, someone had cleaned and placed the deceased child in DiSessa's still arms.
''She just wanted to be a mom," said Cheryl DiSessa of Leominster, one of her aunts. ''To see her in that hospital with that baby last night was just unbelievable, and her baby was so beautiful. He was gorgeous. . . . The guy who did this to her will be arraigned, and we're going to go to that courthouse. I want to put a face to who did this."
Police say David E. Zoller, 33, of Littleton, is responsible for Katelyn DiSessa's death.
On Saturday, Zoller was arrested and charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter while under the influence of alcohol, failure to stay in marked lanes, and failure to keep on the right side of the road.
He was being held on a $50,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned today at Clinton District Court.
Lancaster Police said Zoller was traveling east on Route 62 around 6:15 p.m. when he crossed the center line, placing him into a nearly head-on collision course with the truck Katelyn DiSessa was riding in.
Katelyn DiSessa was engaged to the baby's father, James Rousseau, 21, her boyfriend of six years, said Cheryl DiSessa.
Rousseau had bought Katelyn DiSessa a ring, and the two had just moved into a Leominster apartment that was being prepared for the baby, due at the end of May. A baby shower had been held April 1.
The couple had been living with Rousseau's parents and were en route to their new apartment when Rousseau's GMC utility truck was struck by Zoller's white Ford van, according to police and family members.
Rousseau, who inspects cars at a local gas station, swerved left to avoid a full head-on collision, Cheryl DiSessa said.
If he had swerved right, the truck would have ended up in a pond.
But the oncoming van was going too fast, and Katelyn DiSessa took the full impact of the crash as a piece of the truck fell in and struck her in the head, killing her instantly, said Cheryl DiSessa, who described her niece's apparent injuries to the Globe.
The Lancaster Fire Department removed Katelyn DiSessa from the car.
Rousseau also was taken to Clinton Hospital and treated for shock.
''My brother is a total train wreck right now," said John Rousseau, his older brother.
The family gathered at the Clinton home of James Rousseau's mother, Denise Rousseau.
There Denise Rousseau told the Globe, via a phone interview, what police told her on the night of the crash.
The officer saw the accident happen, she said. ''James is going through the 'what ifs' right now," said Denise Rousseau. ''All he can say is that he lost his entire family. He's fine physically, but emotionally he's a wreck."
A woman who answered the phone at the Zoller residence told a Globe reporter that she had no comment, and Lancaster Police last night would not discuss Zoller's blood-alcohol content.
The legal limit for alcohol when driving in Massachusetts is .08 percent.
Starting Jan. 1, drunk drivers in Massachusetts were hit with stiffer penalties and rules, including use of a device that checks the breath for alcohol levels before the driver starts the car.
According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, in 2004, 43 percent of the Commonwealth's vehicular deaths were alcohol-related, and 34 percent involved a driver with a .08 percent or higher blood-alcohol rating.
The DiSessa family is planning to bury Katelyn DiSessa at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden, in a plot next to her grandmother.
''She was a beautiful girl, a sweet kid, a loving kid," said Cheryl DiSessa. ''She was asking me all kinds of things about raising babies."
Adrienne P. Samuels can be reached at asamuels@globe.com. 