A Nappanee woman was arrested Friday on several charges after a single-vehicle accident allegedly led to serious injury to a child.
Alisha Nicole Rowe, 38, of 558 N. Elm St., Nappanee, is charged with neglect of a dependant, a level 3 felony; possession of methamphetamine, a level 5 felony; operating a vehicle causing serious bodily injury, a level 5 felony; and possession of paraphernalia, a class C misdemeanor.
She was booked into the Kosciusko County Jail at 10:12 p.m. Friday on a $20,500 preliminary bond.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on April 5 a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office sergeant was dispatched to a vehicle crash in the area of East CR 100N and North CR 450E. On arrival, the sergeant saw a single-vehicle accident.
Through his investigation, the sergeant determined the Chevrolet Trailblazer had been driving west on East CR 1000N and left the northern edge of the road for an unknown reason. Based on tire marks in the field, the sergeant determined the vehicle then began sliding sideways through a harvest field to the east of North CR 450E. The Chevrolet continued across N CR 450 while it was sliding. After crossing North CR 450E, the vehicle hit a stop sign and a street sign. After hitting the signs, the vehicle traveled a short distance before overturning twice.
Both occupants - a woman identified as Rowe and a child - were thrown from the vehicle.
The Chevrolet traveled back to East CR 1000N and came to rest on its wheels against a tree along the southern edge of the roadway facing east.
The sergeant found Rowe laying outside of the vehicle in the road to the west of the vehicle. Due to her state of consciousess and Rowe’s inability to answer questions appropriately, the sergeant did not read her Indiana’s implied consent for serious bodily injury or fatal crashes. The sergeant filed for a search warrant for a legal blood draw, which was granted.
A 9-year-old child was found laying in the ditch to the north and east of the vehicle. The child was conscious and breathing. However, the child was complaining of back pain and was unable to feel their legs. The child said they were in the front passenger seat in the vehicle and not restrained by a seatbelt. The child was taken to Fort Wayne Lutheran Hospital by ambulance for further treatment.
A KCSO corporal spoke with a man who was working in his front yard at the time of the accident. The man said he heard a noise, looked up and saw a car flying through the area about 4 or 5 feet off the ground. The man said when was watching the crash, he thought he saw someone flying through the air. The man went to the vehicle immediately after the crash and found Rowe in the road.
A KCSO deputy talked with a second man who was outside and saw a vehicle driving significantly faster than the speed limit and drove through the stop sign, according to court documents.
Contents from the vehicle included a backpack-style purse that had whiskey and several prescription bottles, a clutch-style bag containing a glass-smoking pipe with a white powdery residue in it, a clear bag containing a white powdery residue and a couple pieces of a crystal-like substance testing presumptively positive as methamphetamine. Family members identified the bag as Rowe’s.
On April 7, the deputy was informed the child had been transferred to an Indianapolis hospital where they were going to undergo a back surgery for a spinal fuse and had a 50% chance of feeling his legs again. The child also had a collapsed lung and fractured scapulae. Rowe was on a ventilator at that time and was suffering from a neck injury.
Airbag control module diagnostics on the Trailblazer revealed it was traveling at 98 miles per hour five seconds prior to the airbags being deployed. Both Rowe and the child’s seatbelts were recorded as unbuckled. The brake switch indicated applied brakes were off for the entire five seconds prior to the airbags being deployed.
Blood results for Rowe showed her BAC was equivalent to 0.11 grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of her blood. She also tested positive for meth and marijuana.