A Telford man was charged with a felony for aggravated assault by vehicle while driving under the influence and related charges after crashing his car in Salford Township July 14, critically injuring a 5-year-old passenger, police said.

        Around 7:45 p.m. on July 14, authorities were called to the scene of a vehicle with heavy front end damage resting on top of an in-ground pool in the backyard of a home on Ridge Road in Salford Township. When police arrived on the scene, Michael Church, 35, was standing near the vehicle, smelled strongly of alcohol and had bloodshot and glossy eyes, court records state. He staggered back and forth, spoke with slurred speech and was very confused and indifferent, police said.

        The responding officer also saw damage to the passenger side windshield, caused by the passenger – a 5-year-old child – not wearing a seatbelt, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed in the Red Hill court of District Judge Catherine Hummel Fried. The child was flown by helicopter to Lehigh Valley Hospital in critical condition, police said.

        Authorities determined that Church was traveling north on Ridge Road in his Chevrolet Cheyenne when he struck a pole on the right side of the road, crashed through a fence on the southbound side and stopped on top of the pool.

        The officer did not perform a field sobriety test on Church due to his staggering and the damage to his vehicle. A search of Church turned up a small amount of a green leafy substance, later identified as marijuana, in a plastic baggy and drug paraphernalia, police report.

        Church has also been charged with DUI, endangering the welfare of a child, reckless endangerment, failure to properly restrain a child and other traffic offenses.

        During a July 15 arraignment, Hummel Fried set Church's bail at 10 percent of $50,000. The defendant was remanded to Montgomery County Prison after failing to post that bail, according to court records posted on a state website.

        A preliminary hearing in the case was scheduled for Tuesday, July 19.