Driver inhaled whippets before fatal crash that killed 18-year-old, Oklahoma cops say

Months after an 18-year-old passenger died in a single-vehicle crash, a woman accused of driving under the influence has been arrested.

Sutton Petz inhaled whippets before the Feb. 3 crash in Norman, Oklahoma, causing her to pass out while driving, according to Cleveland County District Attorney Jennifer Austin.

“As the defendant was inhaling nitrous oxide, she became unconscious and lost control of the vehicle,” The Norman Transcript reported, citing the probable cause statement. “This caused the vehicle to depart the roadway, travel through a grass ditch, become airborne, impact multiple trees and roll onto the driver’s side.”

A passenger, identified in media reports as 18-year-old Maddix Bias, was killed in the crash, authorities said. The district attorney said a second person in the vehicle “sustained great bodily injury.”

Petz, 28, was charged Tuesday, April 9, with manslaughter and driving under the influence causing great bodily injury, prosecutors said. She was released from jail on a $250,000 bond.

Nitrous oxide whippets are inhalant drugs that are popular among teenagers and young adults for their short-lived “high,” the Cleveland (Ohio) Clinic says.

They’re called whippets because the nitrous oxide charger’s intended purpose is to “refill whipped cream dispensers,” DrugRehab.com said.

“Inhaling nitrous oxide produces a very transient high — a tingling sensation or a sense of dizziness, calmness or relaxation,” Cleveland Clinic pediatric pulmonologist Dr. John Carl said. “You might also notice some slurred speech and loss of coordination.”

Additional side effects can include dizziness, headache and drowsiness, according to American Addiction Centers. It can lead to “asphyxiation that leads to brain damage or death.”

Candi Morris, the mother of the 18-year-old victim, said her son’s death “was senseless,” KOCO reported.

“It was preventable. Absolutely preventable and should not have happened,” Morris told the station. “Obviously it’s the hardest thing we’ve ever had to go through, and I don’t wish it on anybody for sure.”

Bias was a 2023 graduate of Tecumseh High School, where he played baseball, according to his obituary. He was most recently enrolled in a carpentry and masonry school.

He was known for his “larger than life personality and ... beautiful soul,” loved ones wrote in a GoFundMe.

“Maddix loved going to the lake and listening to music with his friends, wrestling with his brother, being his sister’s backup singer and (was) a lifelong (Chicago) Cubs fan,” the obituary read.

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