The Gould family was heading back to Worcester after a trip to Home Depot. They had paint, soil and flowers and were ready to spend the weekend planting and doing yard work.

It all changed in an instant when police say 43-year-old Jose Acevedo slammed into the back of their Subaru Outback as they waited to turn onto a side road in the area of Route 20 and Mill Street in Auburn.

Acevedo was drunk and registered a .26 on a Breathalyzer test after the crash, police said. And he had been arrested for driving without a license earlier that day.

"He hit me so hard my earring flew out of my ear, my pierced ears," said Carly Gould, who had a hard time moving her neck during an interview. "That's how hard we were hit."

After the crash, Acevedo told police told officers he was an illegal immigrant.

"Acevedo later admitted to entering the United States illegally through Mexico from El Salvador and to not having a driver's license," Auburn Police said.

Authorities are still trying to determine his citizenship status.

But Carly Gould and her husband, Jeffrey Gould, said they aren't overly focused on Acevedo's immigration status. They simply don't want him behind the wheel again.

"It's obviously a factor now, but that's not our concern," Carly Gould said inside the office of their lawyer, Richard Rafferty. "Our concern is he has chosen not to follow the laws. He has shown it multiple times."

Carly Gould fractured her T1 vertebra, Jeffrey Gould has whiplash and their two daughters, 3-year-old Mary and 7-year-old Julia, were both treated and released at a local hospital after the 4:50 p.m. crash Thursday.

To hear Acevedo's wife say it was "one little mistake" is infuriating to the Gould family. They asked a reporter not to take pictures of their faces for privacy reasons.

Jessica Amaya, Acevedo's wife, told WHDH News that her husband didn't mean to cause the crash. Her husband is undocumented and from El Salvador, Amaya told the television station. He has been in Massachusetts for roughly 17 years.

Amaya told reporters that her husband works hard and has never harmed anyone before the accident.

But Carly Gould said it wasn't just one little mistake. Records show Acevedo was arrested earlier that same day on a warrant for driving without a license. He was apprehended by Worcester Police, paid his fines at court and was released.

Later in the day, police say Acevedo was drunk when he slammed into the 2015 Subaru Outback carrying the Gould family.

"It is my family now that's dealing with his decisions. It's not just one little mistake. He knew he did not have a license. He was picked up earlier that day," Carly Gould said. "He shouldn't have been behind the wheel. Never mind behind the wheel three times the legal limit. I can't even fathom how a human being makes that decision."

The Gould family understands the "politically charged topic" of immigration status in the country today, but said the driving laws are clear: People cannot drive drunk.

Acevedo is facing charges of driving under the influence of alcohol causing serious bodily injury, negligent driving and unlicensed driving charges in connection with the crash. He is being held on bail after his arraignment in Worcester Central District Court Friday.

Officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said they have not been able to verify Acevedo's status.

Shawn Neudauer, a spokesman for ICE New England, said agents from the Enforcement and Removal Operations tried to interview Acevedo on June 9.

"ICE officers were unable to gain access to the individual because a court supervisor would not allow ICE officers to speak to Mr. Acevedo until the local court appointed an attorney to him in his state criminal proceedings," the statement said "While Mr. Acevedo has allegedly admitted to local law enforcement that he is in the U.S. unlawfully, ICE cannot verify the accuracy of his alleged statements until our officers interview him and compare his biographical data against federal immigration records."

The crash has left the two Gould girls anxious. Her parents talk to them about the importance of car seats, but they know deep down in their souls, it could have been worse. Jeffrey Gould was able to stop the car from careening into oncoming traffic.

Glass shattered into the car after the back window exploded and the side windows popped. Some of the family was pulling glass out of their hair.

"It was just a huge crash," Carly Gould, 35, said.

"An explosion and glass," Jeffrey Gould, 40, added.

As the family looked out and saw the plants, paint and soil all over the road in a mess, witnesses began to approach them. The witnesses said they had been behind Acevedo before the crash.

"We had witnesses pull over who were behind him for a long stretch of road who said he was all over the road and never even tapped his brakes," Carly said.

The family wanted to stay silent, but the comments made by Acevedo's wife upset them. The wife spoke about a traffic light in the area, but there wasn't one there, the Gould family said.

The family doesn't want the discussion of immigration status to overshadow the circumstances around the crash.

"My focus is on making sure that he is not able to do this again because he has shown he isn't able to follow the laws," Carly Gould said. "I don't trust that he's not going to get back behind the wheel or get drunk and get behind the wheel. That's my focus, getting our family healed and whole again."