A Southtowns family is pleading with holiday partiers not to drink and drive, after the family's seven-month-old daughter was killed in an apparent drunken driving accident.
The driver of the other car in the violent accident is due in Brant Town Court Friday afternoon to answer DWI and vehicular manslaughter charges in the case.
Chautauqua County records say 24-year-old Danielle Kellogg was charged with DWI almost exactly three years ago. She pleaded guilty to driving while impaired at the time.
Scott Dion, whose daughter Baylee was killed in the head-on collision, says his fiancee Denise Hine is recovering in ECMC from serious injuries in the crash.
Hine, the driver of Baylee's car, had just dropped their four-year-old Ciera off at pre-K and stopped for gas before the 9 a.m. accident.
"Baylee was everything. She was the best baby anybody could ever have. She was nothing but smiles. She never cried. She was such a good baby," a tearful Scott Dion said at a Wednesday news conference.
The speed of the Kellogg car isn't known, but it sliced the Hine car nearly in half.
The infant's grandmother Linda Dion pleaded with the public not to drink and drive for the holidays.
"Please, I implore you to talk to your family, talk to your friends, anyone who picks up a stinking drink. Terrible... it's deadly. It's poison. You really want to never have to feel this feeling and I hope nobody else does either," Dion said.
The child's father told reporters he can't understand why anyone would be drunk at nine in the morning.
