Drunken wrong-way driver on I-75 in KY had ‘very high’ amphetamine level. 6 died.
A Richmond woman was intoxicated on drugs and alcohol when she drove the wrong way on I-75 and crashed head-on into another vehicle, killing six people — including four children, according to the Fayette County coroner’s office.
Jamaica Natasha Caudill, 38, had a blood-alcohol content level of 0.205 — more than twice the legal limit, according to a toxicology report. She also had a “very high” – 177 ng/ml – amount of amphetamines in her system, Deputy Coroner Michael Durbin said. The coroner’s report didn’t specify what type of amphetamine was in her system.
She had also taken Gabapentin. Gabapentin isn’t an opioid or narcotic, but it helps relieve nerve pain.
Caudill got onto the northbound side of the interstate going the wrong way on June 5 around 12:30 p.m., according to police. She entered I-75 north in the wrong direction at the 104-mile marker, which is the Athens Boonesboro Road exit.
Police dispatch received several calls about Caudill. Witness video showed she kept traveling the wrong way for an extended period despite vehicles coming at her. The crash happened before any officers could intervene, police said.
The drugs and alcohol were the ultimate cause of the wreck, according to the coroner’s report.
The crash killed Caudill and five people in the other vehicle: 30-year-old Catherine Greene, 9-year-old Karmen Greene, 11-year-old Santanna Greene, 5-year-old Brayden Greene and 2-year-old Jack Greene. Caudill and Karmen died on scene, according to the coroner’s office. The others were taken to University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital, where they later died.
Catherine and the children died from blunt force trauma injuries, including traumatic head injuries, according to the coroner’s reports. One suffered hemorrhagic shock.
“While removing (Caudill) from the vehicle, we did smell what we thought to be alcohol but did not see any signs in the vehicle,” Durbin wrote in a coroner’s report. Another report indicated she was suspected to have been under the influence.
Javier Maldonado, who witnessed the crash from the other side of the interstate, said it was “terrifying.”
The traumatic crash caused Lexington police to request the Police Officer Support Team, which gives “support and guidance to everyone (not just police) involved at the scene,” Lexington police Sgt. Donnell Gordon said previously.
The five people in Catherine Greene’s vehicle were from Owenton. Catherine Greene was the mother to Brayden and Jack, and the stepmother to Santanna and Karmen, according to the family’s obituaries. Catherine’s husband, Jon Greene, was the father of all four children.
Caudill had two children and two step-children and was engaged to be married, according to her obituary. She had suffered from past substance abuse issues, according to court records. In 2015, she was ordered to attend the Chrysalis House, an addiction treatment center in Lexington, after she was charged with DUI and public intoxication.
Caudill previously had an altercation while intoxicated at St. Claire Regional Medical Center in Morehead, according to court records. She jumped onto and over the reception desk, according to a 2015 police report. She yelled and screamed at nurses and attempted to kick them while they tried to assist her. She allegedly admitted during the incident that she had used meth.
She later pleaded guilty to public intoxication as a result of the incident.
Lexington police have previously declined to release more information about the crash because it was still under investigation.
Updated: Two adults, four children killed in Lexington I-75 crash identified
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