A Boston dentist was ordered held on $500 bail Tuesday in connection with a hit-and-run crash a day earlier near the Longfellow Bridge.
Imran Chitalwalla, 32, was arrested Monday in Cambridge on charges including operating under the influence following the two-vehicle crash near the intersection of Cambridge Street and North Grove Street.
During his arraignment in Boston Municipal Court, Chitalwalla pleaded not guilty to charges of operating under the influence of alcohol, leaving the scene of an accident causing property damage and refusing to supply his license to an officer.
Authorities say the victim in the crash told police the suspect hit her car before fleeing. The woman followed him for a time after he refused to stop and said she saw him pour a beer out the window, police said.
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Pamela Alexander said it was her daughter who chased after Chitalwalla.
"She just couldn't believe that he had the audacity to think that he could get away with it," Alexander said. "She goes, 'I'm sitting at the light and he just taps me and then he keeps going and next thing I see him hit someone. I was like, oh my goodness, this guy has gotta be stopped or he's gonna injure someone else.'"
Police said they stopped Chitalwalla on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, near Chicago Pizza.
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During the ordeal, police said Chitalwalla also struck a bicyclist.
No serious injuries were reported.
While searching Chitalwalla's Mercedes, police said they found 13 cans of hard seltzer - 11 of them opened.
"The officers noted he appeared to be intoxicated. There was evidence to show he was intoxicated," a court prosecutor said.
Chitalwalla works at Tremont Family Dentistry and Franklin Park Family Dental in Boston, defense attorney Claudia Legos said in Boston Municipal Court.
"He has no criminal record. He's a good person, spends a lot of time volunteering, he's a dentist full time, he has a different account of what happened," Legos said.
After posting the $500 bail, Chitalwalla was ordered not to consume alcohol and he will be randomly tested while he fights the case. It's unclear when his next court date is.
