Police: Drunk Driver Dragged Girl on Bike

A teenage bicyclist in Long Beach was hit and dragged several feet by a drunk driver on Labor Day, according to the Long Beach Police Department.

The motorist, indentified as German Gutierrez, a 49-year-old Long Beach resident, was driving a jeep eastbound on East Beech Street when he struck a 15-year-old girl riding her bike at Edwards Boulevard and dragged her about halfway down the block, between Edwards and Riverside Boulevard, on Sept. 3, said Sgt. Eric Cregeen, the department’s public information officer.

“He drags her a couple of hundred feet, her and her bicycle, before she was separated from the vehicle,” he said.

Police received a call about the incident at 8:53 p.m., in which the witness described the vehicle in question as a red jeep that had left the accident scene and continued driving eastbound on East Beech, Cregeen said.

Meanwhile, police received a second call that a motorist struck a parked car at the 200 block of East Beech. Police were able to stop and arrest Gutierrez at the 500 block of East Beech, between Lincoln and Franklin boulevards. Gutierrez was charged with driving while intoxicated, leaving the scene of personal injury accident, leaving the scene of a property damage accident, and second-degree vehicular assault.

The girl was transported to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, where she is being treated for lacerations to her legs. “She had severe road rash,” Cregeen said.

The Long Beach School District, on learning about the accident involving one of their students, released the following statement: "The Long Beach Board of Education and Administration are greatly saddened about the tragic accident that took place on Monday evening involving an eleventh-grade Long Beach High School student. Our thoughts and prayers are with the student and family during this time and we hope that the student makes a full and quick recovery and is back in school soon. The Long Beach Schools fully supports the efforts of the local police to stop drunk and impaired driving."

* This story was updated on 9:17 a.m. on Sept. 6, 2012.