Londonderry News

By Alec O’Meara
Union Leader Correspondent

A Londonderry college student was upgraded from intensive care to good condition at Beth Israel Medical Center today after getting hit by a passing motor vehicle on the Boston College campus early Sunday morning.

Bethany A. Pfalzgraf, 21, suffered serious injuries in the accident, which has been classified as a hit-and-run, said Lieutenant David Wilson of Massachusetts State Police. Platzgraf was walking along St. Thomas Moore Road, a street on the interior of the school campus, when she was struck by a 2002 Toyota sporty utility vehicle, police said.

The vehicle did not stop after the accident, Wilson said.

The vehicle and driver were found a short time after the accident by Boston College Campus Police in a parking lot in the vicinity of where the accident took place, Wilson said. The alleged driver, Benjamin Knott, 18, of Weston, Mass. was charged with operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol, reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident where personal injury occurred. Knott is scheduled for arraignment in district court later today, Wilson said. Pfalzgraf was initially transported to Beth Israel Medical Center in Boston where she was initially place in the intensive care unit in the hospital, a hospital spokesman said, but was listed in good condition by mid-day Monday.

Pfalzgraf, a graduate of Londonderry High School, is listed as a member of the Class of 2010 College of Arts and Science in the Boston College student directory. Her listed residence is Rubenstein Hall, 92 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, Mass. Knott is not listed in the school directory. The accident is still under investigation, Wilson said.

Reprinted with the permission of the author.  This was published in the Union Leader online.  This is the unedited version of the story and does differ slightly with more details.

According to the Boston Herald who covered the arraignment reported he “blew a 0.18 and 0.20 on a breathalyzer.”  Read the full Boston Herald story by Laura Crimaldi “Boston College senior struck by allegedly drunk teen’s SUV”

WCVB TV Channel 5 in Boston has some video interviews HERE.

From Wicked Local in Newton

This isn’t Knott’s first run-in with police over his driving this year. In August, Knott was involved in a boating mishap on Sunapee Lake in New Hampshire.

The New Hampshire Marine Patrol said Knott drove a boat across the water and struck the kayak of a 52-year-old Jamaica Plain man. Police at the time said the kayaker avoided serious injury by plunging underwater to avoid Knott’s boat.

The kayaker surfaced to find debris from his kayak spread across the water, according to police. Police said alcohol was not a factor in the collision.

Knott, who was pulling a water skier, came back and brought the kayaker and the pieces of his kayak back to the shore.

For the rest of the story read “Weston teen held on $50,000 bail for hit-and-run charge” by John Hilliard.

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