Woman placed in drug program after son killed
LANCASTER — A Fairfield County woman whose urine tested positive for three drugs after a crash that killed her son last year pleaded guilty Friday to three counts of aggravated drug possession and was ordered placed in a treatment program.
Evidence was insufficient to show that the drugs she had ingested the night before had impaired Natasha J. Anderson’s ability to drive, however, so she wasn’t charged with causing the crash that took the life of 4-year-old Leonard R. Anderson IV on Jan. 9, 2017.
“We looked very strongly at (charging) vehicular homicide, but at the end of the day, we just could not meet the necessary burden of proof or show causation,” said Fairfield County Assistant Prosecutor Chris Reamer. “It was an extraordinarily unfortunate case that no Fairfield County Assistant Prosecutor Chris Reamer
one wants to see occur.”
Common Pleas Judge Richard E. Berens gave Anderson, 32, of Lancaster, intervention in lieu of conviction for three years, and ordered that she be evaluated for placement in a community-based residential treatment program.
Intervention in lieu of conviction allows certain offenders an opportunity to receive court-supervised treatment instead of a conviction and sentence when they are charged with some lower-level offenses.
About 9:15 p.m. on Jan. 9, 2017, Anderson was driving south on Route 188 south of Pleasantville when her Dodge Caravan went off the road and into an embankment, overturned and hit a utility pole, the State Highway Patrol said.
Her son was thrown from the vehicle and was pronounced dead at Fairfield Medical Center in Lancaster. Her three other children, all younger than 10, survived the crash. None of the children wore seat belts.
A urine sample showed that Anderson had used methamphetamine, hydrocodone and oxycodone, which resulted in her indictment on the fifth-degree felony charges. The crash findings didn’t show she had been driving recklessly, however, and it could not be shown with reasonable certainty that the quantity of drugs found in her system could be linked to impairing her and causing the crash, Reamer said.