Friday, August 19, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

DEADLY BUS STOP CRASH: Driver had high level of Xanax

Though expert says anti-anxiety drug impaired driving ability, no felony charges filed

Veronica Schmidt Driver may face only misdemeanor citations in crash that killed four Las Vegas police look over the crash scene where four people were killed March 14 when a vehicle crashed into a bus stop. REVIEW-JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

A driver who killed four people when she crashed into a Las Vegas bus stop this year had enough anti-anxiety medication in her system to impair her ability to drive, according to a forensic toxicologist who reviewed her blood test results for authorities.

The driver, Veronica Schmidt, also failed field sobriety tests and told police she had fallen asleep behind the wheel when her sport utility vehicle jumped a curb and plowed into the northwest valley bus stop March 14, according to police reports.

Despite those findings, Schmidt, 34, has yet to be criminally charged. Clark County prosecutors have twice declined to pursue felony charges.

It now appears that Schmidt will face only a pair of misdemeanor citations.

In his report, toxicologist Raymond Kelly said he believed that Schmidt was under the influence of Xanax at the time of the crash and that the drug "very likely" played a major role in causing the accident.

The anti-anxiety drug can impair motor skills, and patients are generally warned not to drive while taking it.

A blood test showed Schmidt had 100 nanograms per milliliter of Xanax in her system about an hour after the crash. Those levels, Kelly wrote, indicated Schmidt had been taking more than 10 milligrams of the drug each day.

Schmidt told police she took just 1 milligram each night to help her sleep.

In a statement written for the city attorney's office, Allen Flagg, vice president of Harmony Health Care, which treated Schmidt in 2003, wrote that Schmidt should not have been behind the wheel. "8-10 mg of Xanax to a person of this size or any size would absolutely be intoxicating and the person would certainly be in no condition to drive," he wrote.

Kelly's opinion contradicts that of Las Vegas police investigators, who said in late March that the Xanax levels were within acceptable limits.

The toxicologist's report and other documents detailing the police investigation and Schmidt's medical history were compiled by the Las Vegas city attorney's office, which began its own investigation after county prosecutors declined to pursue felony charges.

The office released the documents to the Review-Journal on Thursday after the attorney general's office refused to bring felony charges against Schmidt. The newspaper had sued for access to the reports, which the city refused to release because the investigation was considered ongoing until the attorney general's office declined to pursue felony charges.

Based on the toxicologist's assessment, Dr. Dale Carrison, director of emergency service at University Medical Center and chairman of Nevada's Homeland Security Commission, agreed that Schmidt was impaired by the drug.

"That is a huge amount of the drug," he said. "Nobody would prescribe that much to take. We're talking about a human being, not an elephant. ...

"It's a wonder she could get in the car and drive."

On the morning of the crash, Schmidt was driving home after taking her husband to work. She lost consciousness along Smoke Ranch Road and lost control of the vehicle, which drifted right, jumped a curb and ran over four people at a bus stop near Tenaya Way.

The crash killed Samantha Gail Allen, 36; Reginald Williams, 16; Raquel Jimenez, 16; and her 14-year-old sister, Angelica Jimenez.

At a March news conference, county prosecutors said they would not pursue felony charges against Schmidt because they would have to show she had reason to believe the medication would impair her.

The physician's assistant who prescribed Schmidt's Xanax, Levi Bachler, told investigators he failed to warn her about the dangers of driving while on the medication, according to a police report.

However, Schmidt's medical records "clearly document she was told not to drive," the report said.

Based on its investigation, the city attorney's office referred the case back to the district attorney's office in June for possible felony charges. But county prosecutors again declined to pursue the case, saying they did not believe they could win in court, according to a letter explaining the decision.

District Attorney David Roger was out of town and could not be reached for comment Thursday night.

UMC's Carrison said Schmidt should be held accountable for the crash.

"Based on what the expert toxicologist said, I would prosecute her," he said. "What she's done is drug abuse."

Schmidt told police she fell asleep at the wheel. When she came to, she noticed the body of a woman in the road in front of her toppled vehicle, a police report said.

"I did not realize that there were three other people injured," she told police later. "I did not realize that I had hit the curb. I didn't realize I'd hit the bus stop. I didn't realize I had hit the lady."

After being freed from the vehicle by firefighters, Schmidt underwent a series of field sobriety tests, including performing a one-legged stand and walking a straight line.

When she failed the tests, police took her to the Clark County Detention Center with the intention of booking her on felony driving under the influence charges. On the way to the jail, Schmidt appeared dazed and seemed to fall asleep two or three times, police said.

She was never booked at the jail, however. Schmidt's husband told detectives that she had a medical condition and was taking prescription drugs, prompting police to hold off on the arrest until they investigated further.

The police investigation determined that Schmidt was driving between 37 mph and 47 mph in the 35-mph zone and that she failed to stay in her lane.

Police did not reveal Schmidt's medical condition, but she told investigators she was bipolar, the reports said.

She also underwent knee surgery in January and was taking Hydrocodone, a painkiller.

Schmidt has not talked publicly about the crash, but during a police interview she spoke of how the incident has affected her. "I'm absolutely devastated by it, but all I can really, truly say is that it was an accident," she said. "I wish I could take it back."

About a week after the crash, Schmidt was spotted singing at a karaoke bar.

Review-Journal staff writer Paul Harasim contributed to this report.