Suspected Drug Use Linked To Sapulpa Traffic Accident

Tuesday, November 7th 2006, 10:25 am

By: News On 6

She was 7-months pregnant, she had her two young daughters in the truck, and Sapulpa Police say she might have been on drugs when she crashed her vehicle. The accident happened early Monday morning on New Sapulpa Road southwest of Tulsa.

News on 6 reporter Steve Berg says the first report was that she had fallen asleep. Now, Sapulpa Police say they found a bag of methamphetamine outside the truck and they say drug paraphernalia was found on her.

The 26-year-old Tulsa woman told Sapulpa Police that she had fallen asleep when she ran her SUV off the roadway and into a ditch. Detective Fred Clark says they got the impression that she had been awake for an extended period. "She just told us quite a few hours. She didn't give us a number or anything like that. She just told us she'd been up for quite a few hours."

Adding to police's suspicion, they say they found a plastic bag with a white powder outside the vehicle. "It was field-tested for methamphetamine. The driver also had some drug paraphernalia in her pocket. And blood was drawn and sent to the OSBI lab for testing."

Clark says it sometimes takes weeks to get results from blood tests. And he says because the meth was found outside the vehicle, no drug charges have been filed yet. But he says she could face charges for not properly securing her kids inside the vehicle. "The 4-year-old had a lap belt on, but there was a booster seat there in the back seat, but she was not in it. She was laying down in the backseat asleep. The 7-year-old had a lap belt on also, but the shoulder strap was behind her."

Sapulpa Police say the 7-year-old was okay, but that the 4-year-old was badly hurt. The woman's baby was delivered by emergency surgery and reportedly was not doing well either.

The News on 6 reached family members by phone. They say they're not aware of any drug use. The woman's sister also told us she has a brain tumor and that could be the reason why she fell asleep while driving. Sapulpa Police told us that the Department of Human Services has at least temporary custody of the children.

The police and family also told the News on 6; the children's father is serving in the military in Iraq. The good news, we got word from the family late Tuesday, the 4-year-old is doing better.