Late last month, we wrote about a fatal accident that claimed the life of a 48-year-old woman from Clinton. A 30-year-old motorist had been driving in East Baton Rouge when he drifted into oncoming traffic and smashed into the woman’s car head on. At the scene of the accident, he had taken and passed a breath test, meaning he had no alcohol in his system. He was also forced to undergo a urine test and the results are finally in.
The urinalysis determined that he had illegal drugs in his system at the time of the Louisiana car accident. Louisiana State Police have arrested him and he is being charged with driving left of center, reckless operation, third-offense driving while intoxicated and vehicular homicide, among other traffic violations. The urine test came back saying that he had marijuana metabolite and amphetamines in his bloodstream at the time of his accident.
Shortly before the accident, the man had been sleeping in front of a gas station. When the officer first approached the man’s pickup truck, he told him that he could not sleep in front of the store, but if he had to, he could sleep in the parking lot on the side of the gas station. When the officer emerged from the store a short time later, the 30-year-old had fallen asleep in the same location.
The officer told him he needed to move and the man drove off. Very soon after that, he crashed and told the responding officer that the only thing he remembered was the accident itself. As he got out of his car, he had trouble standing up and with his balance. He also smelled of alcohol and his eyes were bloodshot.
Sadly, this story ended in the death of an innocent driver who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Please visit our previous post on the fatal East Baton Rouge crash for more information.
Source: The Advocate, “Louisiana State Police: Man booked in fatal crash of woman,” Kimberly Vetter, Aug. 10, 2012
