Child killed in fatal wreck, father charged with DUI

UPDATE 11:25 p.m.

BY CLAIRE GALOFARO
AND DEBRA McCOWN
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER

DAMASCUS, Va. – “There was a pickup truck flipped up on its hood – with a dead young’un inside,” the man said, describing what he saw at the fringe of his front yard just before 2 a.m. Thursday.
A 2-year-old boy, Phillip Ethan Watson, died in the crash. His father, 26-year-old Phillip Derek Watson was charged with driving under the influence, according to the Virginia State Police. Additional charges are pending.
Police report that the 1993 Toyota Tacoma was traveling west on State Route 788 just west of State Route 718 in Damascus when it ran off the left side of the road, hit a culvert and flipped onto its hood. The truck crashed into a mailbox, then a tree before sliding to a rest in the grass.
Phillip Derek Watson, who was wearing a seatbelt, suffered minor injuries and refused treatment, state police said. While the toddler was buckled into a car seat, he died at the scene.
Watson was released from the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail on bond.
A woman answered at a Phillip Watson residence on Cornett Road, about a mile from the crash site. “It’s devastating to everyone,” was all she would say, referring inquiries of the boy’s life and character to his parents.
Later, when a reporter visited the home, a half a dozen people in the living room declined to comment or provide details of Ethan’s short life.
Deep, muddy gauges, marked and measured in orange spray paint, scar the lawn where Watson’s truck charged off the road. Just across the street, a years-old wooden cross marks the spot where another kid lost her life to a car wreck.
The owner of that lawn, Steve Lovins, said a woman came by some three years ago, shortly after an accident killed a 16-year-old girl, and asked if she could put the cross there.
“I couldn’t tell her no,” he said. “But I don’t know why they’d want the constant reminder.”
Lovins said accidents are common on the straight stretch of road in front of his weekend house. He even planted a line of trees to keep speeders from barrelling through his bedroom.
“It’s 45 mph, but it might as well be 60,” he said of the road. “I hate to see it happen, but I know they’re going to.”
Washington County Commonwealth’s Attorney Dennis Godfrey said his office is still in the “fact gathering” process and a decision on whether charges against Phillip Watson will be enhanced could come as early as today.
All three of the establishments that serve alcohol in Damascus said they were closed at or before 9 p.m. Wednesday.
Chris Konshak, state program manager for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said wrecks like this one are unfortunately common. More than 60 percent of children killed in drunken driving crashes are the passengers of the intoxicated driver, who is often a family member.
Konshak said others in the community should get involved and even call law enforcement if they believe someone getting into a car has been drinking – especially if there’s a child in the car.
“Too often as a society we turn our head to it or say, ‘Well, they’ll make it home,’ or ‘It’s not that big a deal,’ or ‘They’re the parent,’ but we really need to step forward and protect innocent lives,” Konshak said. “Don’t worry that you’re meddling in somebody’s life or something like that; you’re also saving lives.”
On McCann Road on Thursday, neighbors mowed lawns and went fishing. But, they said, everybody was shaken by the little boy’s death.
“It’s a tragedy,” Lovins said. “See all they can do, babies, is depend on you. They don’t have any say in what happens to them. And look what happened to his one.”

11 Connects contributed to this report.

cgalofaro@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2531
dmccown@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0701

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Va. -- An overnight wreck in Southwest Virginia took the life of a child, and now the father is charged with DUI.

According to an investigating officer, the fatal wreck occurred on McCann Road in the county around 1:45 Thursday morning.

Officers say Phillip Derek Watson ran off the left side of the road, overturned and hit a tree. Watson's child was the passenger in the car and he died in the wreck, according to officers.

Watson was charged with DUI and is being held at the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail.

UPDATE 10:14 a.m.:
Commonwealth Attorney Dennis Godfrey says his office is still in the "fact gathering" process of investigating this morning's crash that took the life of a child. The investigation, Godfrey says, could take several days.

A decision on whether charges against Phillip Watson will be enhanced could come as early as tomorrow.

UPDATE 1:30 p.m.:
The Virginia State Police have issued more details this afternoon about a fatal crash this morning that took the life of two-year-old Phillip Ethan Watson of Damascus, Va.

Police say they responded to the crash at 1:56 a.m. Thursday morning along State Route 88 (McCann Road) in Washington County. Reports indicate that Watson's 1993 Toyota Tacoma was traveling westbound on State Route 788 just west of State Route 718 in Damascus, when it ran off the left side of the road. The vehicle struck a culvert and overturned. The truck slid on its top – collided with a mailbox and a tree where it came to rest on its roof in the grass.

Ethan Watson was pronounced dead on the scene, but police say he was buckled in a child safety seat. The driver of the Toyota Tacoma, Phillip D. Watson, 26, of Damascus, Va., suffered minor injuries but refused treatment at the scene. He was wearing a seatbelt.

The crash remains under investigation this evening.