Mom faces DUI charge after crashing truck with baby aboard

ST. PETERSBURG – A mother was jailed on a drunken-driving charge after crashing her truck into a house with her baby boy inside the vehicle, police said.

Billie Vercellona is charged with DUI involving property damage, child abuse or neglect, and three counts of battery on health service.

Police received a call around midnight Friday from Kimberly Crone, who said she was following a motorist driving erratically on 16th Street N, reports WTVT-TV Ch. 13 . Crone then saw the truck slam into a parked truck at 3338 16th St. N., pushing it far enough to hit the house.

Crone said she jumped out of the car and heard a baby crying. "I tried to break the window, but I couldn't break it with my hand," she told the TV station.

Eventually the driver unlocked the door, and Crone said she pulled her out and grabbed the baby. She said she could smell alcohol 20 feet away.

"I was laying in bed and I heard this big crash, it sounded like an explosion," Ted Manooch, the homeowner, told the TV station. "I got up out of bed real quick, went out and looked out the window and I seen my truck up against the house."

The infant was taken to All Children's Hospital before being treated and released to his grandmother. Vercellona was taken to Bayfront Medical Center where she became combative with nurses and struck some them, police said. Vercellona was later taken to jail.

Follow This Just In on Twitter.