An 18-year-old woman from Brookfield faces four felony charges for an alleged drunk driving incident last month. She has been accused of causing a drunk-driving car accident that killed one man and injured a woman. If convicted she could face up to 37 years in prison.
The accident occurred early in the morning on March 11th on a street in Milwaukee. The defendant reportedly crashed her car into a group of people who were gathered in the intersection. The accident victims were attempting to help a man who was injured in an unrelated accident only moments earlier.
The defendant admitted to police that she had consumed four 12-ounce cups of light beer prior to driving. Her BAC was not measured until two hours after the incident but at that time she was still over the legal limit of .08.
According to police the incident was captured on a security camera in the area. This will likely be a strong piece of evidence against her in court. The results of her BAC test and her confession that she had been drinking will also likely be valuable to prosecutors.
The defendant has told police that she was not watching the road at the time of the accident. Rather, she was facing a passenger in the front seat and attempting to get directions. Therefore it is possible that the accident might have occurred even if she was sober.
It is also possible that she was unaware of being drunk. However, the young woman was drinking underage and therefore any amount of alcohol in her system would legally prohibit her from driving.
The evidence against this young woman is strong. Even though she has only been 18 since January she is nonetheless faced with all the potential consequences of being tried as an adult.
Source: WITI-TV online, “Brookfield teen faces 37 years in prison for drunk driving fatal accident,” Bob Moore, 29 March 2011