A 9-year-old North Texas girl is recovering from a concussion at home after she was hit by a truck in downtown McKinney around noon on Monday. The girl, from Midlothian, was in McKinney with family when police say 54-year-old William Weir hit her at a crossing.
Weir claims the girl darted in front of his truck. He says he slammed on the brakes, stopped and got out to help direct traffic around the accident.
Police arrested Weir and charged him with intoxication assault with a vehicle, possession of marijuana less than 2 ounces and driving while license invalid.
Weir told NBC 5 Monday morning he was hung over after a weekend of drinking, but contends that he was not drunk when he hit the girl.
"I was hung over – I was not intoxicated, because I wasn't getting, drinking to get drunk," Weir said.
Weir says he had a beer that morning, but said he wasn't, "messed up."
"Yesterday morning a 16 oz Busch to kinda help take away that rip and roar in my head," Weir said when asked how much he had to drink the morning of the accident. He said he didn't believe it impacted his reaction.
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"I was going down Louisiana Street and all of the sudden this girl jumps off the curb and right there in front of my truck, period," Weir said.
"If anything be said about it, you know alcohol and all that other stuff, this didn't cause this problem, but it didn't help this problem you know because I'd been pretty well intoxicated all weekend," Weir said.
"This is one hell of an eye opener for me, alcohol don't need to be in the picture at all, period," Weir said.
Weir says he took a breathalyzer and later a blood test, but the results of the level of his intoxication have not been released. The accident remains under investigation.
