Texas troopers recommended Colorado state Sen. Suzanne Williams be charged with criminally negligent homicide after she caused a fatal accident and then allegedly tampered with evidence and was not “forthcoming.”
Williams’ attorney David Lane emphatically denied she tampered with evidence or was untruthful and noted that a grand jury rejected the allegations despite the trooper recommendation.
“Fortunately the good people of that county have the good sense to see through anything the police said,” Lane said. “That is obscene that they would say she was tampering with evidence and completely out of touch with humanity.”
Hartley County District Attorney David Green brought the case before a grand jury that declined to indict Williams on any charges. Green is on vacation and could not be reached for comment.
According to the report signed by Sgt. Andrea Watson, Williams drove on the wrong side of the rode on U.S. 385 near Channing, in the Texas Panhandle on Dec. 26, causing a crash that killed Brianna Gomez, who was seven months pregnant. Her son was born by emergency C-section and survived.
“Factors that may have contributed to Mrs. Williams driving on the wrong side of the road were she was either fatigued or (a)sleep and/or she was distracted in the vehicle,” the report prepared by a crash reconstruction team said.
Her reckless driving caused the death of Gomez and injured her children Mali and Eleri, the report says.
Her “negligence” further resulted in injuries to her son Todd and his children, Tyler and Tristan, the report says.
She should have been aware of the high risk of danger of them not having their seat belts on, Watson’s report says.
“Mrs. Williams tampered with evidence when she moved Tristan from the roadway and Tyler from the dash by returning them to their locations prior to the crash and then not being forthcoming when the investigating officer first questioned her regarding if anyone had been ejected from her vehicle,” the report said. “She only later admitted to moving the children at the hospital when questioned further after inconsistent injuries were revealed on both children.
After the grand jury rejected the more serious charge, Texas troopers cited Williams for three misdemeanor traffic violations in a fatal accident that happened Dec. 26 in Hartley County. She was cited for driving on the wrong side of the road while not passing and two seat-belt violations involving her two grandchildren.
Her son, Todd Williams, was cited for not wearing his seat belt during the crash, according to a news release by Trooper Gabriel Medrano.
