Police: Accused driver in fatal Wacousta crash smelled of 'intoxicants'
ST. JOHNS — A woman charged in connection with a "mass casualty" incident involving a family gathering last weekend in Clinton County was visibly intoxicated after police stopped her minutes after the hit-and-run crash, a court document indicates.
Deputies detected "a very strong odor of intoxicants" on Ashley Monroe's breath after they stopped her on Howe Road, near Forest Hill Road, a police official testified during a hearing that led to charges against Monroe.
Monroe had "glassy, watery, bloodshot eyes" and spoke with slurred speech, he said.
The GMC Acadia police said she was driving had damage consistent with having struck pedestrians, the official testified. Numerous parts found at the scene of the crash appeared to match the vehicle Monroe was driving, he said.
Johnathan Esch, 30, and Daniel Harris, 42, were killed in the Saturday evening crash on Wacousta Road, north of Corrison Road, police said. Fourteen other members of an extended family were injured, including a number of children. A woman was critically injured.
Eight of the victims were children, seven of them age 8 or younger. The oldest victim was 61, police said.
The victims suffered injuries that include broken bones, and a 3-year-old girl suffered a lacerated liver, the detective testified.
Monroe, 35, of Perrinton, was charged Monday with 11 felony counts, including driving while intoxicated causing death. She was being held in the Clinton County Jail in lieu of a $1 million cash bond.
The crash was reported about 6:25 p.m., and the vehicle involved was seen heading north on Wacousta Road, the detective testified. Sheriff's deputies spotted the vehicle and stopped the driver at 6:28 p.m., who was alone in the vehicle.
"So within three minutes from the time of that call and that location from Wacousta and Corrison to Howe and Forrest Hill is the travel frame for the vehicle," the detective said in the document.
Clinton County Sheriff Sean Dush spoke during the Watertown Township Board of Trustees meeting on Monday night. He told officials and about a dozen gathered residents that deputies were responding to another call in the area when dispatchers relayed the crash information.
That allowed them to get to the scene, and subsequently make an arrest, much quicker than normal, Dush said, adding that a deputy saw the SUV police now say Monroe was driving swerve into a ditch and across the center line before they stopped her.
A portable breath test done after Monroe was booked into the jail registered 0.18, more than twice the legal limit for driving, the detective said. At her arraignment, officials said prescription anti-depressants were found in her possession and a bottle of Crown Royal was found in her purse.
Monroe pleaded not guilty to the charges Monday via a video link from the jail. She requested a court-appointed attorney. She is employed by the Secretary of State's office, according to an attorney who represented her in court Monday.
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on X @KBPalm_lsj.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Police: Accused driver in fatal Wacousta crash smelled of 'intoxicants'
