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Prosecutors say that a Texas man driving his wife and four children around in his SUV was so drunk that he didn't notice his four-year-old son get fatally ejected from the backseat of the caras he twice collided into a Chicago highway guardrail.
According to prosecutors, Franklin Jackson only noticed the hole in the back window when he pulled into a gas station a few blocks away to check the damage to his Ford Expedition.
When Jackson returned to the scene to look for his son, police were already waiting for him.
Jackson wasn't breathalyzed until six hours after the crash, when he registered a .04 BAC, well under the legal limit, although he did admit to drinking and driving and had "glassy and bloodshot eyes."
Authorities, who estimate he was driving with a BAC between .11 and .15, say they found an empty vodka bottle, an empty beer can and an unopened beer in the car.
Jackson's son, also named Franklin Jackson, was apparently seated in the middle seat and had not been wearing a seatbelt. He lost consciousness when he was thrown from the car, and paramedics were not able to revive him.
Jackson, who is being held on a $250,000 bail, has been accused of reckless homicide and aggravated DUI, among other charges.