A woman who crashed her car while allegedly drunk driving has been charged with vehicular assault for the serious injuries sustained by her passenger.
The woman, Tamika Crisp, 37, has been indicted on charges of vehicular assault, reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, DUI, and driving on a suspended license.
Her charges come for the injuries suffered by her passenger, Marcos David Sadate Escarega, who was rushed to Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga for treatment following the wreck this past January. Crisp was also treated at Erlanger.
According to Highway Patrol Sgt. Billy Prater, the accident happened around 11:30 p.m. on Jan. 15 of this year at the intersection of Old Sparta Highway and Sparta Highway in front of Campaign Church of God. Evidence suggests Crisp came to the end of Old Sparta Highway in her 2002 Honda Accord and failed to stop at the stop sign.
“She crossed both lanes and ran up an embankment,” Sgt. Prater said. “Then the car struck a tree.”
The car came to rest on the side of the embankment. When first-responders arrived, they were told there was a third passenger in the vehicle and that person had been ejected. A search of the scene revealed nothing and it was later discovered the injured passenger was mistaken when he claimed another person had been in the car.
The fact was confirmed when a friend call Crisp’s phone while officers were working the wreck. The friend revealed they had all been together earlier in the evening and it was just Crisp and Escarega in the car when they left them.