Doctor charged with DUI after wild ride in Wellesley

Posted: 11/13/12 at 4:55 pm EST      Last Updated: 11/14/12 at 9:36 am EST

WELLESLEY, Mass. (WHDH) -- Traffic cameras captured an out of control SUV slamming into cars stopped at an intersection Friday.

7News has learned the woman behind the wheel of the SUV Tuesday is a prominent doctor. She was arraigned in court Tuesday charged with driving under the influence.

The wild ride that began in the Whole Foods parking lot on Route 16 in Wellesley left a 78-year-old Wellesley man hospitalized with two broken bones.

"I'm sitting at a light kind of day dreaming and next thing I thought a bomb went off, and she wacked me good," said Paul McDonald, victim. "And I have cracked ribs and sore all over. That's my problem."

Prosecutors say 56-year-old doctor Kristin Howard of Wellesley, an emergency room doctor at Newton-Wellesley Hospital for the last 13 years, was behind the wheel of the out of control Subaru Outback.

Prosecutors say she was under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

“A civilian witnessed that the speed of the vehicle going through the parking lot was somewhere between 40 and 50 miles per hour,” said Matt Friedel, a prosecutor.

Prosecutors say Dr. Howard was wearing hospital scrubs when she was arrested, first claiming she was headed to work, then explaining she was coming home from work and stopping at the store to buy a turkey for Thanksgiving.

Prosecutors were requesting $10,000 cash bail telling the judge prescription drugs found in the doctor’s car were prescribed by her for herself.

Howard’s attorney says she has no criminal record and she's had a distinguished career; she was named doctor of the year by Newton Wellesley in 2009.

“She has a reputation for trying to save lives and was given the award of Doctor of the Year at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in 2009,” said Katherine Hatch, defense attorney.

A spokesperson for Newton-Wellesley Hospital said the hospital is unaware of any Doctor of the Year Dr. Howard may have won in 2009.

Dr. Howard is due back in court in January.

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