Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS Former Londonderry police officer Tyler Berry leaves Hillsborough County Superior Court North in Manchester Tuesday following a hearing on charges accusing him of driving drunk in an Amherst crash that killed a 21-year-old woman from Milford. Berry did not enter the courtroom itself for the hearing.

MANCHESTER – Joseph and Amy Houle wish that Tyler Berry, the former Londonderry police officer accused of driving drunk in an Amherst crash that killed the Houles’ daughter, had entered the courtroom for Tuesday’s hearing “just to let him see our faces (and) let him know … we’re fighting this to the end.

“We want justice … we want him to pay for the crime he did to our daughter,” an emotional Joseph Houle added as he, his wife, and numerous other family and friends gathered outside Hillsborough County Superior Court North in a light afternoon rain.

The group had just left Judge Amy Messer’s courtroom, where they sat through a fairly brief dispositional conference for Berry, who is charged with one felony count of driving while intoxicated stemming from the April 5 crash on Route 101 in Amherst.

Berry, who lives in Amherst and was a police officer in Bedford before joining the Londonderry force, resigned from Londonderry on May 1, and is no longer employed by the department, a spokesman said.

The charge against him alleges he was drunk when his GMC pickup truck collided “in a mostly head-on fashion” with a car driven by 21-year-old Sierra Croteau, a longtime Milford resident who died of multiple injuries sustained in the crash.

While Berry, dressed in a suit, arrived at the courthouse just before the hearing was to get underway, those present said he did not enter the courtroom itself for the hearing.

Berry’s lawyer, Nashua-based Attorney Charles Keefe, left the courthouse with Berry after the hearing without speaking to reporters.

Keefe, along with the prosecutor, First Assistant County Attorney Kent Smith, conferred at the bench with Messer, which concluded with Messer setting the next court hearing in the case for Sept. 13.

Joseph Houle, meanwhile, teared up while telling reporters the amount of support they have received “means the world to us. We have so many friends out there who want justice for my daughter.”

Amy Houle said those close to Sierra Croteau “struggle every day,” and while they go to work and try to do usual things, “we have our bad days, some good days too.”

The days leading up to June 28 – their daughter’s birthday – “were really hard for us,” Amy Houle said.

Joseph Houle said the family wants Berry to know “we will be in that courtroom for every hearing. This is not going to be a sprint, it’s going to be a marathon, and it’s going to be a long, difficult time for us.

“But in the end, we know justice is going to be served,” he added.

Berry’s decision to not enter the courtroom didn’t sit well with Sierra Croteau’s family, Houle said.

“Today, in my eyes, he was a coward not to show his face in there. Maybe I’m wrong, but … I don’t know.”

The circumstances of the tragic loss of their daughter illustrate the need for tougher drunk-driving laws, the Houles said.

“In our opinion the state has to come up with stricter laws … that make people afraid to go out and drink and drive,” Joseph Houle said. “Gov. Sununu has to do something to make the (drunk-driving) laws in New Hampshire (among) the strictest,” he added.

Berry, meanwhile, was arrested at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, where he was taken for treatment of injuries he sustained in the crash.

While medical personnel were treating him at the scene, Berry allegedly told one of them “he had been consuming ‘adult sodas,'” state police Trooper Bryan Plamondon stated in his report.

Two first-responders who interacted with Berry at the scene allegedly “detected the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his person,” Plamondon wrote.

Amherst police officer Christopher Carey, who met with Berry at the hospital, told investigators that “he, as well, was able to detect the odor of an alcoholic beverage” allegedly coming from Berry.

Carey also noted, according to Plamondon’s report, that Berry “had bloodshot, glassy eyes, droopy eyelids … as well as slow speech.”

At his arraignment several days later, Berry entered a not-guilty plea and was granted personal recognizance bail. Conditions of bail include that he consume no alcohol, possess no firearms or other dangerous weapons and sign a waiver of extradition.

He also must continue to live at the Amherst residence he shares with his wife, and is prohibited from driving, according to the bail order.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256, dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com or @Telegraph_DeanS.