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Driver accused in fatal crash appears in court

Posted at 6:59 PM, Feb 10, 2016
and last updated 2016-02-10 21:59:43-05

Travis Kennedy sobbed as he looked at pictures from the DUI crash that killed his mother and injured his stepfather.

RELATED: Woman killed, husband injured by suspected drunk driver in Lakeside

He tried to hold it together as he was forced to relive that horrible night from the witness stand.

“I tried to talk to my mom, and as her pulse went away I proceeded to attempt CPR,” Travis Kennedy said.

Prosecutors say Katie Ellison-McGrosso was drunk when she hit and killed Lorraine Kennedy and injured her husband.

The couple was leaving a Mexican restaurant in Lakeside after having dinner with Kennedy’s son and his girlfriend.

“Right as we were getting to the back of the car I see Lorraine fly off the top of the car and roll,” Julie Bressi said.

Bressi says as she and Kennedy’s son crossed Woodside Avenue first, they noticed a car speeding, with no headlights on, and the driver screaming out her window at them.

“I turn over and look over my right shoulder and I see David flying in the air, and he landed pretty much right in front of me,” Bressi said.

David Sandel was walking with Kennedy. He told the court he was hospitalized for 54 days.

“I had a lacerated liver, four broken ribs, my left side, two bones sticking out of my left leg,” Sandel said.

Ellison-McGrosso held her hand over her mouth and sobbed when prosecutors showed the court pictures from the crash.

Investigators say the suspect had a blood alcohol level of 0.12. The legal limit is 0.08.

The preliminary hearing continues Thursday.